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14F156 Razdan / Hrazdan

The "Razdan" system is a heavy optical-electronic reconnaissance satellites, with a main mirror with a diameter of 2.4 meters. The “Hrazdan” system, which was supposed to replace “Persona”, began to be developed at the very least in 2014. Unlike all previous systems for this purpose, the diameter of the main optical mirror of the Razdan reached 2.4 meters (for comparison, the Persona has 1 meter), like the best similar US strategic reconnaissance satellites.

Satellites of the "Hrazdan" type are the next-generation optical-electronic reconnaissance devices. They will replace the satellites of the "Persona" type. They provide the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces with operational images with detailed resolution. The military argue that the military's need for a significant increase in the orbital constellation of optical reconnaissance satellites was particularly evident during the Syrian campaign. The need for an operational space monitoring of the situation at the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was so great that it was required to involve civilian remote sensing devices of the Resurs and Canopus families to carry out military tasks.

A new type of advanced surveillance satellites will soon bolster the reconnaissance capabilities of the Russian Aerospace Forces. In 2019 the Ministry of Defense plans to begin the deployment of an optical-electronic reconnaissance system based on the latest space vehicles such as Hrazdan. The mainstay of the new space surveillance system will be the new 14F156 Razdan satellites, which are expected to replace the existing 14F137 Persona craft, to which the military had high hopes in the early 2000s, but could only receive a few a decade later.

Several sources in Russian industrial and military circles have told the newspaper Kommersant that the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center are already discussing the specifics of engineering Razdan satellites. While little information regarding the new satellite's capabilities and characteristics is currently available, the newspaper reported that Razdan is set to totally outclass its predecessors. "Hrazdan", according to several sources, is "head and shoulders above any of his predecessors." There will be a fundamentally new payload and high speed radio with additional protection. The third and subsequent devices will be equipped with a new telescope with a diameter of 2 meters. Optics are manufactured at Leningrad Optical-Mechanical Association named after Lenin (participated in the creation of "Persona") and Krasnogorsk plant named after Zverev. The satellite will be able to maintain contact with Earth via a new high-speed secure radio channel, and will eventually be fitted with new telescopes with an objective lens diameter of 2 meters.

The space forces of the Russian Federation and the Samara rocket and space center "Progress" are consulting on the technical design of satellites of type 14F156 "Hrazdan". Information in open sources about devices of this type is extremely small. For example, "product 14F156" appears in yesterday's updated procurement plan for goods, works and services on the official website of Progress. It is also known that in July 2015 the company ordered a study, the purpose of which was to identify the imported and discontinued electronic component base used in on-board equipment for 14F156 products, as well as components subject to "export restrictions".

The first Razdan satellite was expected to be launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 2019, with the second and the third craft scheduled to join it in space in 2022 and 2024 respectively. The casting and polishing of the mirror at the Lytkarino Optical Glass Plant took several years. There were also problems with the electronic information transmission system designed by the Zverev Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant, once widely known for its Zenit cameras. The Hrazdan starts were postponed twice. And only this summer there was some information that two devices planned for launch a year apart were completely ready for launch.

In July 2015 the company ordered a study whose objective was to identify and import a previous electronic-component base used in the onboard equipment 14F156 products and components subject to "export restrictions".

If a "persona" has any problems, the deadlines for "Razdan" will be displaced (eg, due to problems with the import substitution components), then serious problems will occur, : in this case, their functions partly take over the civil systems. According to "Kommersant", the need for operational space monitoring of the situation in Syria by the Defense Ministry it was so great in 2016 that it took to bring to fulfillment of military tasks civilian vehicles remote sensing of the Earth families "Resource" and "Canopus".

According to its characteristics, "Hrazdan" will be "head and shoulders above all its predecessors," says a high-ranking Kommersant source in the industry: a fundamentally new payload, a high-speed radio channel with additional protection, will appear. A new telescope with a diameter of more than 2 m will be placed on the third and subsequent apparatuses, optics for which will be created not by the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Union named after Lenin (participated in the creation of "Person"), but by the Krasnogorsk Plant named after Zverev. According to preliminary plans, the launch of the first Hrazdan space forces is planned to be carried out from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2019, the second one in 2022, and the third in 2024. If there are any problems with the "Persons" or the terms of delivery of "Hrazdan" will shift (for example).

For the first time in a long time, the annotation preceding the launches from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region did not even contain a brief description of the satellite planned for launch into orbit. In our age, when everyone talks about any more or less successful and significant spacecraft, as they say, from every iron, this both intrigued and made nervous observers and interested parties of the Western coalition. Since then, there has been no increase in clarity, except that the faceless designations and serial numbers of the spacecraft, Kosmos-2572 and Kosmos-2573, finally appeared in the reference materials.

It was only known that these were very large devices, the launch of which required the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle, the heaviest of the Soyuz-2 line, capable of lifting spacecraft weighing up to 9 tons into near space. In this case, we were talking about seven-ton vehicles, which, along with various orbital parameters, allowed intelligence and space agencies and analysts to draw conclusions about what class they belong to and what they actually do in orbit.

To appreciate the importance of the event, recasll that from 2001 to 2008, a time of particularly rapid development of electronic systems and satellite weapons, the Russian armed forces did not have specialized optical-electronic reconnaissance satellites in orbit at all. The Soviet Yantar satellites, which transmitted information to the ground using film capsules, ceased to exist in May 2001. The development of new devices, the third generation, “Persona” class, was initially delayed for a long time. And then, after being launched into orbit, they were not immediately able to reach the specified parameters, and one satellite was lost. Things were better with the remaining two and they are still transmitting the necessary information to the ground. But their service life, designed for seven years, had long expired.

This made it possible to conduct optical-electronic satellite reconnaissance at an unprecedentedly high level, obtaining images of very good quality, with the detail necessary for accurate analysis. Both Hrazdans allegedly took their places in orbit, at an altitude of about 750 km from the surface of the earth, and, most likely, are already transmitting data to the ground from the main strategic directions. If all this is true, then this is very good news. The Russian satellite constellation has immediately been enriched with a pair of modern devices of a very high level, and electronic intelligence will have additional capabilities that are not inferior to Russia's main geopolitical rivals.

Namesake

Hrazdan is a river in Armenia, a tributary of the Aras. It is 146 km long, with a basin area of 7310 km2. It flows out of Lake Sevan. The mean flow rate of about 16 m3 / s. It is used for irrigation. Hrazdan is a city in Armenia, the administrative center of Kotayk region. The hotel Hrazdan is located in one of the most beautiful parts of Yerevan. Situated in extended center of the city far from noisy and fussy part, it is at the same time 5 minutes walk far from the most active parts of the city.

The stadium "Hrazdan" is the pride of Armenia. The first idea to build a stadium expressed known politician Anastas Mikoyan in the 1950s. Guest in Armenia and resting in a shelter on the edge of the gorge Government House holiday known as the "Black House", he spotted the natural amphitheater canyon and offered under his patronage to build a stadium with a capacity of 25-30 thousand people and call it "Pishchevik". However, this idea had yet to ripen properly. Only relevant government decision was taken in 1968.

Construction of "Hrazdan" began in 1970, in parallel with the construction works and preparing working drawings of the stadium. The total sports complex, which was designed for 75,000 spectators, was built in 11 months. Sports Complex was planned not only for the football competition, but also basketball, boxing, fencing, table tennis, and had a large and comfortable swimming pool. Construction of this building was truly national. Thousands of volunteers from Yerevan and the regions of day and night, worked unselfishly.