- Coverage Zone: 360 Degree Azimuth/0-40 Degree Elevation
- Detection Range: 85nm
- Time to/from Combat Readiness: 5 Min
- Max Ground Speed: 35mph
The 9S18M “Kupol-M” (Cyrillic: «Купол-М»; NATO designation: “Snow Drift”) is a mobile 3-D acquisition radar operating frequency agile in the S-band (IEEE designation) or in the F-band (NATO designation). The radar uses a rectangular phased array antenna with mechanical rotation in azimuth and an electronically steered pencil beam in elevation. The transmitters’ waveform is alternate an unmodulated pulse and a pulse with linear intra-pulse frequency modulation (chirp). The radar can track up to 50 targets at a time, and provide target designation on six targets. It is used for target assignment for the 9K37 “Buk” air defense missile system (Cyrillic: «Бук М1»; NATO designation: SA-11 “Gadfly”).
The radar was developed in 1977 and has been in the armament of some states of the former Soviet Union and Finland since 1980.