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Missile Defense Radar Sites

During the Cold War, both the United States and Russia built elaborate systems of spy satellites, radars, and computer networks to scan the skies for ballistic missiles and their deadly nuclear warheads. The US systems were pointed at the Soviet Union and the Soviet systems watched the Americas.

The Dnestr, Dnepr and Dauvaga radars at Skrunda, Mukachevo, Balkhash, Mishelevka, Olenegorsk, Sevastopol, known in the West as Hen House radars, were built in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Daryal radars, known in the West as the Pechora-type, were built at existing Hen House facilities at Skrunda, Mukachevo, Balkhash (Sary Shagan), Mishelevka and at new locations Baranovichi (Gantsevichi), Qabala (Gabala / Lyaki / Mingechaur), Pechora, Yeniseysk (Abalakova / Krasnoyarsk). These new radars were intended to replace the older Hen House radars.

Many radars no longer operate or suffer power outages. Only three of the nine modern large phased-array radars wre in service as of the late 1990s. Three have been deactivated or never completed, and three are inoperable or barely functional. Seven of the ten older, less capable Hen House radars are outside Russia in former Soviet republics, and some may be shut down for political reasons. The Soviet radar system was being modernized when the country fell apart. One of the new replacement radars, in Latvia, was torn down in May 1995. Russia won a temporary reprieve against closing two older Hen House radars in Latvia, but that agreement expired in August 1998. The radar was one of those covering the critical northwestern direction. Other radars used by Russia were in Ukraine, at Sevastopol and Mukachevo; in Azerbaijan, at Qabala; and Kazakhstan, at Balkash. Some are functioning, but there have been disputes over finances and personnel.

References

• All Quiet at `Shipka'? Radar Stations Impact Human Health , ZELENYY SVITF!, August 1994
• Command and Control System and Its Current Status by Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies at MIPT
• Silent Space Is Being Monitored, Lieutenant Colonel Boris Kononenko, ARMEYSKIY SBORNIK, June 96 -- A Discussion of Russia's Outer Space Monitoring System.
• Russia Must Fully Fund Two Missile Warning Stations , Interfax, 3/3/1997 -- Russia will have to finance two missile attack warning stations in Ukraine near Mukachevo, Transcarpathia, and near Sevastopol, Crimea, in full.
• Acting Defense Minister Visits Missile Defense Unit , Mikhail Shevtsov, ITAR-TASS, 4/22/1998

Links

• Command and Control System and Its Current Status

Pechora LPAR

Hen House LPAR

Russian news reports indicate the presence of a radar facility at Solnechnogorsk [56°11'00"N 36°59'00"E], which is rather far from any reported radar location.