Russia is to put a state-of-the-art Voronezh-M early warning radar station in the Irkutsk region on experimental combat duty, local media reported Wednesday.

The radar station will operate in the meter range and will control the eastern missile-threat direction, the Interfax news agency quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying.

This is the fourth new-generation station that has joined service in Russia in the past several years, the report said, adding that the radar station's performance is better than that of the stations of previous generations.

The Defense Ministry said earlier that the new station can be deployed much quicker than the previous ones and can be relocated if need be and that it also requires fewer operators.