Direct proof of use
A Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and General Staff military-history publication lists 1L13-3 "Nebo-SV" in a table of air-enemy reconnaissance and warning radars used by the Air Force radio-technical troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The table places the radar among active, transportable meter-band systems in Ukrainian service during the war.
Russian conflict-use reporting also places Nebo-SV in the war. Military Review reported that Russia's Ministry of Defense published March 2022 footage of a Nebo-SV radar in the special-operation zone and showed the radar working with Buk-M2, with Nebo-SV crews responsible for target search and detection. A later VPK.name/TsAMTO item said Russian Nebo-SV crews were on round-the-clock combat duty in Ukraine, with air-picture data used to assign targets to air-defense units.
Sources: Ukrainian General Staff November 2022 Military-History Description, TopWar Nebo-SV Combat Use, VPK Name Nebo-SV Combat Duty
Operational role
In the conflict record, the Nebo-SV is a sensor rather than a weapon that fires munitions. Its documented role is air-defense surveillance: finding aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aircraft, and other air targets, forming part of the air picture, and passing target information to command posts or missile systems.
Russian reporting described Nebo-SV as mobile enough for crews to change positions for survivability and emphasized unmanned aircraft as a frequent target type. The same reporting placed the radar in a layered air-defense process in which target data from radars supported Buk-family systems.
Ukrainian strike reporting in 2025 and 2026 treats Russian Nebo-SV radars as air-defense and radar targets within a wider campaign against Russian surveillance, command, and air-defense assets in occupied Ukrainian territory.
Sources: TopWar Nebo-SV Combat Use, VPK Name Nebo-SV Combat Duty, GUR Crimea Air-Defense Strike, Crimea Realities Crimea Strike Geolocation, Ukraine MoD May 2026 Middle-Strike Results
