Drzonów 2022-11-18
P-12 Maria aircraft detection and tracking radar.
The Soviet P-12 Maria radar is used to detect and track airborne objects and determine their current coordinates (slope distance, azimuth, position angle and altitude). It can also indicate targets to artillery radar stations and guide aircraft to detected objects. The P-12 Maria radar was developed in the period 1954-1956.
The antenna is a set of 16 Yagi antennas (two floors with six antennas each). The set consists of two ZIL-157 cars (camera and antenna-mast system) and two trailers. On one trailer there is, among other things, a power generator. The radar works on a meter wave. The detection range depends on the altitude of the target: At 1,000 m altitude, the range is approximately 45,000 m. At 2,000 m altitude, the range is approximately 75,000 m. At 4,000 m altitude, the range is approximately 100,000 m. Data refer to aircraft detection bomb. The maximum range is 220 km and of course depends on the size of the facility.
P-12 Maria radars are exhibits in the museum in Fort Czerniakowski in Warsaw and in the museum in Drzonów.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman