Mishelevka Radar Station

Mishelevka Radar Station is the site of three generations of Soviet and Russian early warning radars. It is located in Irkutsk in Siberia 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. In 2012 a new Voronezh-M radar is being built at the site.

Mishelevka Radar Station
Мишелёвка РЛС
Mishelyovka Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk, Siberia
An image of the site from landsat. The 4 Dnestr radar and 1 Dnepr radars are upper right and the Daryal radar lower left.
Mishelevka Radar Station
Coordinates52.8555°N 103.2317°E / 52.8555; 103.2317
TypeRadar Station
CodeOS-1
Site information
OwnerRussia
Controlled byRussian Space Forces
Open to
the public		no
Conditionoperational
Site history
Built1964 (1964)–2014[1]
Built bySoviet Union/Russia
Garrison information
Garrison46th Independent Radio-Technical Unit [1]

Mishelyovka is a village in southern Siberia and the station is 4 kilometres (2 mi) east of the village and 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of the town of Usolye-Sibirskoye. The military town for the station is called Usolye-Sibirskoye-7 (Russian: Усо́лье-Сиби́рское-7).

Space surveillance
A Dnestr space surveillance radar from US spy satellite KH-7, 1967

Mishelevka was founded as OS-1, a space surveillance site with four Dnestr radar, which were started in 1964 [1] and tested in 1968. It could detect satellites at an altitude of up to 3,000 kilometres (1,864 mi).[2][3]

In 1967-8 a Dnepr early warning radar was started adjacent to the 4 Dnestr radars and it was commissioned in 1976.[4]

RadarCoordinatesAzimuth [4]TypeBuilt [1]Details [1]
Radar 152.877574°N 103.273323°E / 52.877574; 103.273323 (Mishelevka radar 1)135Dnestr1964–1976Modernised to Dnestr-M and then Dnepr late 70s. Operational [5]
Radar 252.881511°N 103.266027°E / 52.881511; 103.266027 (Mishelevka radar 2)135Dnestr1964–1970Modernised to Dnestr-M. Decommissioned 1990s. Now derelict.
Radar 352.883013°N 103.258045°E / 52.883013; 103.258045 (Mishelevka radar 3)265Dnestr1964–1968Modernised to Dnestr-M. Used for research since 1993 – now an incoherent scatter radar [6][7]
Radar 452.875787°N 103.256414°E / 52.875787; 103.256414 (Mishelevka radar 4)265Dnestr1964–1968Modernised to Dnestr-M. Decommissioned 1990s. Now derelict.
Radar 552.874829°N 103.260791°E / 52.874829; 103.260791 (Mishelevka radar 5)70, 200Dnepr1967–1972Modernised to Dnepr 1976. Operational [5]

One of the Dnestr space surveillance radars is now used as an incoherent scatter radar by the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.[6][8]

Second generation Daryal radar
Main article: Daryal radar

Mishelevka had a Daryal-U radar, a bistatic phased-array early warning radar consisting of two separate large phased-array antennas separated by around 500 metres (1,640 ft) to 1.5 kilometres (4,921 ft). The transmitter array was 30 by 40 metres (98 ft × 131 ft) and the receiver was 80 by 80 metres (260 ft × 260 ft) in size. The system is a VHF system operating at a wavelength of 1.5 to 2 meters (150 to 200 MHz). The claimed range of a Daryal installation is 6,000 kilometres (3,728 mi).[9]

Two Daryal-U type radars were to be built at sites in Balkhash and Mishelevka, Irkutsk, neither were completed. In 1999 the American Clinton administration offered financial assistance in completing the Mishelevka facility in exchange for amending the ABM treaty to allow US deployment of a national missile defense system.[10] 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 52°51′20.11″N 103°13′53.94″E and the receiver at 52°51′42.02″N 103°14′20.49″E. It was never operational and was demolished in 2011.

Third generation Voronezh radar
Main article: Voronezh radar

The Daryal radar was demolished on 23 June 2011 [5] to enable the construction of a new Voronezh radar. There are going to be two radar faces on the site to replace the two Dnepr radars which, as of 2012, are still operational.[7][11] Once complete the MoD say that the radar will have coverage of 240°.[12]

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,[13] a VHF radar with a stated range of 4,200 kilometres (2,610 mi).[14] The VP stands for high potential and may reflect that it has six segments, rather than the three of other Voronezh VHF radars.[12][15]

The first face of the new radar was announced as undergoing testing in March 2012.[11][16] In May 2012 it was announced that it had entered "experimental combat duty".[12][17] Fully operational in 2014.[18]

References
  1. Holm, Michael (2011). "46th independent Radio-Technical Unit". Soviet Armed Forces 1945–1991. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  2. Karpenko, A (1999). "ABM AND SPACE DEFENSE". Nevsky Bastion. 4: 2–47.
  3. "Hen House". Federation of American Scientists. n.d. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  4. 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.
  5. Podvig, Pavel (2011-06-21). "Daryal-U radar in Mishelevka demolished". Russian strategic nuclear forces. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  6. "Incoherent Scatter Radar". East Siberian Center for the Earth's Ionosphere Research. 2002-06-25. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
  7. Potekhin, Anna (2011-01-16). Зелёных вам фонарей! [Green light for you!] (in Russian). Красная звезда [Krasnaya Zvezda]. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  8. V Khakhinov; V Lebedev; A Medvedev (2009-03-30). "CAPABILITIES OF THE IRKUTSK INCOHERENT SCATTERING RADAR FOR SPACE DEBRIS STUDIES" (PDF). Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
  9. Радиолокационная станция "Дарьял" [Radar Daryal] (in Russian). Russian Ministry of Defence. n.d. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  10. "Mishelevka". GlobalSecurity.org. n.d. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  11. Podvig, Pavel (2012-03-22). "New Voronezh-M radar in Mishelevka entered trials". Russian strategic nuclear forces. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  12. Podvig, Pavel (2012-05-23). "Voronezh-M radar in Mishelevka begins combat duty". Russian strategic nuclear forces. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
  13. Модернизация радаров СПРН в Северо-Западном округе начнется в 2015 году [Upgrading early warning radars in the Northwest District will begin in 2015] (in Russian). Lenta.ru. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  14. Радиолокационная станция высокой заводской готовности "Воронеж-М" [Radar of high prefabrication Voronezh-M] (in Russian). Russian Ministry of Defence. n.d. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  15. Глубина в небе [Depth in the Sky] (in Russian). Livejournal. 2012-02-15. Archived from the original on 2012-11-30. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
  16. "Russia to put new radar on combat duty near Irkutsk in 2012". RIA Novosti. 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  17. Ilyin, A (June 2012). "Воронеж" в сердце Азии [Voronezh at the heart of Asia] (in Russian). Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Archived from the original on 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  18. http://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12004148@egNews
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