Mishelevka Radar Station is the site of three generations of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

early warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum t ...

s. It is located in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and provides coverage of China and missile launches from submarines in the Pacific Ocean. There have been seven radars at this site and it is run by the

Russian Aerospace Defence Forces The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) ( rus, Войска воздушно-космической обороны (ВВКО), Voyska vozdushno-kosmicheskoy oborony (VVKO)) was a branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation responsi ...

. In 2012 a new Voronezh-M radar is being built at the site. Mishelyovka is a village in southern Siberia and the station is east of the village and northwest of the town of

Usolye-Sibirskoye Usolye-Sibirskoye ( rus, Усолье-Сибирское, p=ʊˈsolʲjə sʲɪˈbʲirskəjə) is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Angara River. Population: History It was founded in 1669 under the name ''Usolye'' ...

. The military town for the station is called Usolye-Sibirskoye-7 ( rus, Усо́лье-Сиби́рское-7).

Space surveillance

Mishelevka was founded as OS-1, a space surveillance site with four

Dnestr radar Dnestr radar (russian: Днестр) and Dnepr radar (russian: Днепр), both known by the NATO reporting name Hen House are the first generation of Soviet space surveillance and early warning radars. Six radars of this type were built around ...

, which were started in 1964 and tested in 1968. It could detect satellites at an altitude of up to . In 1967-8 a

Dnepr Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea * Dnepr (motorcycle), a Ukraininan motocycle brand * Dnepr (rocket), a 1999 space launch vehicle *Dnepr radar Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river ...

early warning radar was started adjacent to the 4 Dnestr radars and it was commissioned in 1976. One of the Dnestr space surveillance radars is now used as an

incoherent scatter Incoherent scattering is a type of scattering phenomenon in physics. The term is most commonly used when referring to the scattering of an electromagnetic wave (usually light or radio frequency) by random fluctuations in a gas of particles (most o ...

radar by the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, part of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

Second generation Daryal radar

Mishelevka had a Daryal-U radar, a bistatic

phased-array In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving th ...

consisting of two separate large phased-array antennas separated by around to . The transmitter array was and the receiver was in size. The system is a VHF system operating at a

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...

of 1.5 to 2 meters (150 to 200 MHz). The claimed range of a Daryal installation is . Two Daryal-U type radars were to be built at sites in Balkhash and Mishelevka,

, neither were completed. In 1999 the American

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

offered financial assistance in completing the Mishelevka facility in exchange for amending the

ABM treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT) (1972–2002) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ballisti ...

to allow US deployment of a

national missile defense National missile defense (NMD) is a generic term for a type of missile defense intended to shield an entire country against incoming missiles, such as intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs) or other ballistic missiles. This is also used ...

system. Russia rejected this proposal and in 2002 the US unilaterally withdrew from the ABM treaty. The Mishelevka Daryal was started in 1979 and construction ended in 1984. The transmitter building was at and the receiver at . It was never operational and was demolished in 2011.

Third generation Voronezh radar

The Daryal radar was demolished on 23 June 2011 to enable the construction of a new

Voronezh radar Voronezh radars (russian: РЛС Воронеж) are the current generation of Russian early-warning radar, providing long distance monitoring of airspace against ballistic missile attack and aircraft monitoring. The first radar, in Lekhtusi ne ...

. There are going to be two radar faces on the site to replace the two

Dnepr radar Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea * Dnepr (motorcycle), a Ukraininan motocycle brand *Dnepr (rocket) The Dnepr rocket (russian: Днепр, translit=Dnepr; uk, Дніпро, trans ...

s which, as of 2012, are still operational. Once complete the MoD say that the radar will have coverage of 240°. Voronezh radar are highly prefabricated radars needing fewer personnel and using less energy than previous generations. The ones being built in Mishelevka are Voronezh-M, also described as Voronezh-VP, a VHF radar with a stated range of . The VP stands for high potential and may reflect that it has six segments, rather than the three of other Voronezh VHF radars. The first face of the new radar was announced as undergoing testing in March 2012. In May 2012 it was announced that it had entered "experimental combat duty". Fully operational in 2014.

External links

Photo of the Mishelevka DaryalPhoto of the Mishelevka Voronezh under construction
(in Russian)
Photo set of a Dnepr from Novosti Kosmonavtiki, May 2012

Photo set of the Voronezh from Novosti Kosmonavtiki, May 2012

References

{{Ru missile attack Russian Space Forces Russian and Soviet military radars Military installations of Russia Military installations of the Soviet Union Ra Buildings and structures in Irkutsk Oblast