Russian Su-35 Intercepts U.S. Navy P-8 Recon Plane with Secretive New Radar System

Footage showing a Russian Aerospace Forces Su-35 fighter being deployed to intercept a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft over the Black Sea has confirmed that the American aircraft have been equipped with the rare and highly secretive AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, a new radar pod developed by Raytheon. The radar pod was seen mounted beneath the P-8 using a Special Mission Pod Deployment Mechanism (SMPDM), which is relied on to lower it away from the aircraft to expand its field of view. The active electronically scanned array radar was designed specifically to operate in coastal environments, and can provide moving target indication and synthetic aperture imaging. It reportedly allows P-8s to track moving targets at sea and on land, and can produce high-quality images under at night and in poor weather as required. A defining feature of the radar system is its ability to scan both water and land simultaneously, allowing it to conduct coastal reconnaissance while also tracking submarines and surface vessels.

Approximately 125 P-8s are currently in service in the U.S. Navy, which represents by far the largest maritime surveillance fleet in the world. The aircraft have maintained a significant presence in the Black Sea as part of escalated operations by NATO aircraft in the region. Such operations have provided vital targeting data and intelligence to support the ongoing war effort against Russia in Ukraine and various border regions, with U.S. and other Western forces having been deployed extensively on the ground as part of the war effort. The Russian Aerospace Forces have frequently deployed Su-35s to intercept Western aircraft both over the Black Sea and over Eastern Europe more generally, with the aircraft having previously had many particularly close encounters with American warplanes over Syria. In May a Su-35 was involved in a close encounter with a Polish Air Force fighter plane, as well as with Estonian naval vessels, after it was dispatched to protect the tanker Jaguar in the Baltic Sea.