Russian Space Forces

In 1967 the Troops of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence was formed (Russian: войска противоракетной и противокосмической обороны [ПРО и ПКО], tr. Voyska Protivoraketnoy i Protivokosmicheskoy Oborony [PRO i PKO]) under Lieutenant General of the Artillery Yuri Votintsev.[8] They were reorganised as the Ministry of Defence Space Units in 1982. In 1991 the Soviet Union was broken up. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were established on May 7, 1992, enabling the creation of the Russian Space Force later that year on August 10.

In July 1997 the Space Force was dissolved as a separate service arm and incorporated to the Strategic Missile Forces along with the Space Missile Defence Forces, which previously were part of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. In the view of some experts, this was a mistake that prevented the Russian military from developing space-based capabilities. Russian Public TV said of the merger:[3]

However, slightly over three years ago, it appeared to some-one, that, with a view to saving funds, it would be more sensible to strip the Military Space Forces of their independence and subordinate them to the Strategic Missile Troops -which has been done. In just the same way the country's air defense forces were made subordinate to the air force. Under the slogan of "optimizing", but, essentially, reducing the officer corps of the armed forces, the Military Space Forces were simply merged with the Strategic Missile Troops. In this way, the missile men command remained in their places virtually in full and almost the entire elite of military engineers were dispersed from the space forces. The military base, too, was destroyed. In the building of the Military Space Forces headquarters on Kaluga Square [Kaluzhskaya ploshchad], the very expensive fiber optic cable necessary for communicating with space facilities was ripped out. Afterward, this decision was deemed to have been erroneous.

The Russian Space Forces were officially reborn on June 1, 2001, as an independent section of the Russian military. They regained independence under one of the many military reorganization plans of the mid-late 1990s. Colonel General Anatoly Perminov was appointed to lead the new Space Forces.[9] He was succeeded by General Vladimir Popovkin in 2004 and General Oleg Ostapenko in 2008 until dissolution in 2011.[10]

On August 1, 2015, the Space Forces were re-established as part of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

The main tasks of the Russian Space Forces are informing the higher political leaders and military commanders of missile attacks as soon as possible, ballistic missile defence, and the creation, deployment, maintenance and control of in-orbit space vehicles, like the new Persona reconnaissance satellite. For example, the Space Forces operate the GLONASS global positioning system; commander of the Space Forces Colonel General Vladimir Popovkin said in January 2006 that 18 GLONASS satellites would be in orbit by 2008. In October 2010 the system became fully operational.

Formations of the Space Forces included the 3rd Missile-Space Defence Army, and a Division of Warning of Missile Attack, both with their headquarters at Solnechnogorsk near Moscow. Installations and assets include the Hantsavichy Radar Station in Belarus, along with a number of other large warning radars, and the A-135 anti-ballistic missile system which protects Moscow and the Peresvet anti-air laser combat system which protects strategic missiles.[11][12]

There is also an optical tracking facility, the Okno (Window) complex near the town of Nurek in central Tajikistan that is intended to monitor objects in space. The Okno is capable of tracking objects 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) from Earth, the space forces said when it °was put on duty in 2002. The facility involves telescope-like equipment housed in several large spheres, similar to the U.S. GEODSS system.[13]

Lesser emblem of the Russian Space Forces

• United States Space Command
• United States Space Force
• Air Force Space Command
• People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force
• Awards and emblems of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Russian Space Forces.

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• Russian military spacecraft
• Russian Space Forces poster