Soviet Radar Station 113 РЛП
This former Soviet radar site was part of the air surveillance network operated by the Soviet Forces in Germany (GSSD). During the Cold War, it served as an early warning and airspace monitoring station, contributing to the integrated air defense system of the Warsaw Pact. Its primary mission was to detect and track aircraft approaching from the west, monitor the airspace over Saxony and the Ore Mountains, and relay radar data to higher command centers responsible for coordinating fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missile units.
The installation was known as 113 РЛП ("Radiolokatsionny Post"), a designation used for Soviet radar posts within the radio-technical troops. Rather than functioning as a major command center, the site was most likely a subordinate radar outpost assigned to a larger radio-technical battalion. This is consistent with the surviving infrastructure, which suggests a compact but operationally important installation dedicated to radar surveillance rather than command and control.
Although no underground bunker has been identified at the site, several characteristic features of a Soviet radar station can still be recognized today. These include a guard tower, former service buildings, a vehicle garage, one or more circular earth revetments for radar equipment, and an artificial raised platform reinforced with concrete slabs. This elevated mound almost certainly served as the main radar position, allowing mobile radar vehicles to operate with an improved field of view while reducing terrain masking. Similar layouts were common at Soviet radar installations throughout East Germany.
The exact radar systems once deployed at the site remain unknown, as no official equipment lists have been published. However, based on its layout and its role within the Soviet air defense network, it is likely that mobile surveillance radars such as the P-12 or its successor, the P-18, were operated here, possibly alongside a height-finding radar during later years.
Following the end of the Cold War and the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Germany, the station was abandoned in the early 1990s. Today, only scattered remains survive, offering a glimpse into the extensive radar network that once formed a vital part of the Warsaw Pact's air defense system. Although much of its history remains undocumented, the identification of the site as 113 РЛП provides an important clue to its former military role and makes it one of the more interesting surviving Soviet radar installations in eastern Germany.
Visited: November 12, 2021
Location: Undisclosed, Germany
Status: Abandoned
