Sevastopol Radar Station Sevastopol radar station was a Soviet radar station providing early warning of ballistic missile attack . It is located between the Cape of Chersones and the auxiliary airfield " Chesones " ( Marine Aviation of the Black Sea Fleet ) in Sevastopol , Ukraine and was part of the Soviet missile attack warning system . Information from this station could be used for a launch on warning nuclear missile attack or to engage the A - 135 anti - ballistic missile system . The radar occupies a site 1 km long overlooking the Black Sea . Nearby there is a former Soviet Navy dolphinarium and a former airfield . When the station was built it was in the then closed town of Sevastopol , in the Ukrainian SSR . Radar . The radar is a Dnepr ( NATO name : HEN HOUSE ) phased array radar . It consists of a central building and two long wings over 250 metres long ; each wing is a separate radar array . One had an azimuth of 172° ( facing south ) and the other 230° ( facing south - east ) . The radar had a range of covering southern Europe , North Africa and parts of the Middle East . Construction began on the radar in the late 1960s . Some sources say that it started operating in 1975 , others say it became fully operational on 16 January 1979 . Dispute with Ukraine . In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and the station ended up in the newly independent country of Ukraine , together with the radar in Mukachevo . Russia signed a 15 - year agreement with Ukraine in 1992 to rent both radars for US $ 840 , 000 per year , although unlike other overseas stations the radar was to be staffed by Ukrainians not Russians . In 2005 management of the radars was transferred from the military to the civil Ukrainian National Space Agency and the rent increased to $ 1 . 3 million , although Ukraine asked for more . In 2008 Russia decided to stop using information from the two Ukrainian radar stations . According to some commentators it was partly because of the then Ukrainian government ' s stated intention to join NATO . In 2007 the then commander of the Russian Space Forces , Vladimir Popovkin , stated that Russia intended to duplicate or replace foreign radar stations as it could not rely on them in times of crisis . Replacing the station would reduce any leverage Ukraine was gaining over Russia from its ability to control access to the data . Pragmatic reasons were given for ending the lease . Popovkin said that the radars went out of warranty in 2005 , and would cost $ 20m to modernise . In addition Russia said that the data from Sevastopol was unreliable due to interference from unlicensed radio broadcasts from fishing boats in the Black Sea . Furthermore it had concerns with the quality of the data due to the civilian rather than military operators . Data from Ukraine stopped on 26 February 2009 and Russia declared that a new Voronezh radar station in Armavir had begun operation on the same date , replacing the lost coverage . Following this the Ukrainian government announced that the stations would be closed for a month for maintenance and then used part - time for space surveillance , being part of an organisation called SKAKO ( Automatic System of Control and Analysis of Outer Space ) .