56°14′30″N 37°00′50″E / 56.241578°N 37.013825°E / 56.241578; 37.013825

820th Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning[1][2]
Главный центр предупреждения о ракетном нападении
Part of Russian Space Forces[1]
Solnechnogorsk-7
820th Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning is located in Moscow Oblast
820th Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning
820th Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning[1][2]
Coordinates56°14′29″N 37°00′50″E / 56.241389°N 37.013889°E / 56.241389; 37.013889
Site information
OwnerRussian Aerospace Forces
Controlled byRussian Space Forces
Site history
Built1971 (1971)[3]

The 820th Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning (Russian: Главный центр предупреждения о ракетном нападении (Гцпрн), tr. GTsPRN[4]) is the Russian Space Forces early warning network against ballistic missile attack. It has headquarters in the village of Timonovo [5] near Solnechnogorsk outside Moscow and is part of the Russian Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces.[6] The centre consists of a network of early warning radar stations which transmit their data to the control centre near Solnechnogorsk. Other information comes from the early warning Oko and EKS satellites as well as the Don-2N missile defence radar.[7] Information from the centre could be used for a launch on warning nuclear missile attack[8] or to engage the A-135 anti-ballistic missile system.

The Main Centre

The centre is the control centre for the radar network. Here signals from every station are received and, if necessary, a message can be sent to the presidential 'nuclear briefcase' for authorisation to use nuclear weapons.[5] There is a communications centre which has a number of backup channels to communicate with each radar station. If a ballistic missile attack is discovered the duty commander reports this to the central command post of the General Staff.[5] At the same time the duty engineer reports it to the commander of the Aerospace Defence Forces, for redundancy.[5]

Information comes from the radar network, early warning satellites and the space surveillance network SKKP. The centre also discovers and monitors space objects through the use of radar which are fed into the SKKP network.[5]

Warning network

Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning is located in the Soviet Union
Skrunda
Skrunda
Mukachevo
Mukachevo
Balkhash
Balkhash
Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Olenegorsk
Olenegorsk
Early warning radar network in 1980

The Russian missile warning system originates in the Soviet Union and is often known by its Soviet initials SPRN (СПРН),[1] from Russian: Система предупреждения о ракетном нападении, tr. Sistema preduprezhdeniya o raketnom napadenii 'Missile attack warning system'. It started on 15 February 1971 as two Dnestr-M radars at Olenegorsk and Skrunda with a command post in Solnechnogorsk. It expanded by the addition of Dnestr-M radars in Mishelevka and Balkhash in 1973, a Dnepr radar in Sevastopol in 1975 and another in Mukachevo in 1977. The Daugava radar, a Daryal receiver, started operations in 1975 at Olenegorsk. In 1978 an upgraded warning system called Крокус (Krokus) was introduced.[3][9]

In 1982 the Oko early warning satellite system became operational. It was joined in 1984 by the first Daryal radar in Pechora and in 1985 by the Daryal in Gabala.[3][9]

Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning is located in the Soviet Union
Skrunda
Skrunda
Mukachevo
Mukachevo
Balkhash
Balkhash
Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Olenegorsk
Olenegorsk
Gabala
Gabala
Pechora
Pechora
Early warning radar network in 1990

The 1972 Anti-ballistic missile treaty requires that early warning radar stations are located on the periphery of national territory and face outwards. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 this resulted in many of the stations ending up in newly independent states. The radar station at Skrunda, now in Latvia, closed in 1998. Other stations now overseas were Sevastopol and Mukachevo (both in Ukraine), Balkhash (Kazakhstan) and Gabala (Azerbaijan).[3][5][9][10]

The Volga radar at Baranavichy in Belarus came online in 2003 and the two Ukrainian radars closed in 2009.[3][11] In the mid-2000s Russia started the roll out of the next generation of early warning radar, the Voronezh. The first station in Lekhtusi near St Petersburg went on combat duty in 2012.[12] Other stations in Kaliningrad and Armavir were made operational in the following years.[13][14] In 2012, the Gabala Radar Station in Azerbaijan was dismantled following failure to renegotiate its continued use.[15] The Russian military has expressed a desire to replace or replicate all overseas radars with domestic stations as overseas ones cannot be relied upon in times of tension and war.[16] New stations were commissioned in locations such as Barnaul, Orsk, Orenburg and Yeniseysk.[14]

On 4 October 2019, Sergei Boyev, director general of Vympel NPO, a major weapons manufacturer in Russia, confirmed to Russia's state-run media that the company was working on "modelling" the system for China.[17] Russia hopes to integrate China's early warning system with Russia's. This will provide China with increased detection range from North pole as well as the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.[18]

Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning is located in Russia
Baranavichy
Baranavichy
Gabala
Gabala
Balkhash
Balkhash
Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Pechora
Pechora
Olenegorsk
Olenegorsk
Lekhtusi
Lekhtusi
Early warning radar network in June 2012

Organisational structure

In 1998 SPRN became part of the missile and space defence organisation ракетно-космической обороны (RKO) together with SKKP and the anti-missile troops.[5] In 2001 these services became part of the newly founded Space Troops, and were incorporated as the 3rd Independent Missile and Space Defense Army.[1]

The Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning was formed on 1 December 2009 and since December 2011 it had been part of the Space Command of the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, together with facilities such as the 821st Main Space Intelligence Centre and 153rd Titov Main Space Testing Centre.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stukalin, Alexander (May 2012). "Russian Air and Space Defense Troops: Gaping Holes". Moscow Defense Brief. 2012 (2). Archived from the original on 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  2. 1 2 Holm, Michael (2011). "3rd independent Missile Attack Early Warning Army of Special Designation". Soviet Armed Forces 1945-1991. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Marinin, I (2011). Отечественной СПРН – 40 лет [Patriotic SPRN - 40 years] (in Russian). Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Archived from the original on May 20, 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Войска воздушно-космической обороны (in Russian). Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. n.d. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marinin, I (2011). Отечественной СПРН – 40 лет [Patriotic SPRN - 40 years]. Novosti Kosmonavtiki (in Russian) (339): 44–46. ISSN 1561-1078. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-06-22.(subscription required)
  6. ↑ "Structure". Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. n.d. Archived from the original on 7 December 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  7. ↑ Podvig, Pavel (2012-04-12). "Early Warning". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Podvig, Pavel (1994). "The Operational Status of the Russian Space-Based Early Warning System" (PDF). Science and Global Security. 4 (3): 363–384. doi:10.1080/08929889408426407. ISSN 0892-9882.
  9. 1 2 3 Podvig, Pavel (2002). "History and the Current Status of the Russian Early-Warning System" (PDF). Science and Global Security. 10: 21–60. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.692.6127. doi:10.1080/08929880212328. ISSN 0892-9882. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-15.
  10. ↑ Karpenko, A (1999). "ABM AND SPACE DEFENSE". Nevsky Bastion. 4: 2–47. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  11. ↑ "Russia Won't Rent Ukrainian Radar". Kommersant. 2008-01-16. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  12. ↑ Podvig, Pavel (2012-02-11). "Radar in Lekhtusi begins combat duty". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Archived from the original on 2013-04-20. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  13. ↑ Podvig, Pavel (2011-11-29). "Voronezh-DM radar near Kaliningrad is operational". Russian strategic nuclear forces. Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  14. 1 2 "Early warning". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Dec 13, 2007. Archived from the original on January 12, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2012 – via russianforces.org.
  15. ↑ "Независимое военное обозрение. Габалу завлекают в турбизнес". Archived from the original on 2013-10-10. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
  16. ↑ Marinin, I; Kuznetsov, A (February 2007). "The First Voronezh on Experimental Combat Duty". Novosti Kosmonavtiki (2): 64–65. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2012.(subscription required)
  17. ↑ Russia is helping China build a new missile attack warning system, Putin says, Daria Litvinova, CBS News, 2019-10-04
  18. ↑ "Russia is helping China build a new missile attack warning system, Putin says". CBS News.
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