- Статьи
- Army
- Downing horizon: how much has the importance of the Missile Attack Warning System increased
Downing horizon: how much has the importance of the Missile Attack Warning System increased
After the expiration of the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START Treaty) The Missile Attack Warning System (SRN) remains an essential element of Russia's strategic security, experts interviewed by Izvestia note. It includes satellites and radar stations that are capable of detecting missiles at a distance of several thousand kilometers. The first SPRN unit in the USSR went on combat duty 55 years ago — it was a separate early detection division. The stages of the system's development and the real case of preventing a global catastrophe are described in the Izvestia article.
From "Dniester" to "Voronezh"
The history of the Russian Missile Attack Warning System (SPRN) began on February 15, 1971, when the first separate early detection division took over the duty. It was based on a command post in the Moscow region and two Dniester-M stations in Riga and Olenegorsk. The system was deployed to control the most dangerous direction, the North Atlantic, from where American missile launches were expected.
Radar development has been carried out since the 1950s, having gone from the first Dniester stations to the more advanced Dnepr with a detection range of up to 4 thousand km. By the 1980s, the system had evolved into an entire army of PRN: powerful Daryal stations, over-the-horizon Duga stations and the US-K satellite constellation were put into service.". This made it possible, for the first time in the history of the USSR, to create a continuous radar field around the country's borders.
Voronezh-M class radar station
After the collapse of the USSR, the system got a second wind in the 2000s. The Soviet giants were replaced by modern Voronezh-type high-readiness stations. Today, these high-tech radars provide round-the-clock protection for Russia, monitoring all possible missile-prone areas and guaranteeing strategic stability in the face of new global challenges.
In the United States, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), which was created since 1958 against Soviet ICBMs, played a similar role. The BMEWS system monitored a possible strike on the territory of the United States from the north. AN AN/FPS-50 radar network was built in Greenland, Alaska, and the United Kingdom, which began operating in 1961. It was believed that the BMEWS network would give the American leadership 15-25 minutes to decide on a retaliatory strike in the event of a nuclear attack.
Later, the system was repeatedly upgraded and developed, and, of course, a space echelon was added to the radars. All these funds have been consolidated in the United States into the unified North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
What is included in the Missile Attack Warning System?
The principles of the SPRN are the receipt and verification of any alarm signals through several sources of information, analysis and comparison of heterogeneous data. The system controls aerospace, land, and water spaces over a very long range, military expert Viktor Litovkin told Izvestia.
"Missiles and their warheads flying in our direction can be detected thousands of kilometers away from radars," he explained. — Its main task has not changed all these years — to warn the country's top leadership about a nuclear attack in order to organize a retaliatory strike.
Russian over-the-horizon radar system for missile attack warning
The SPRN includes two echelons — space and ground. The first of them consists of special satellites that monitor the launch of rockets — they detect the flare of the launching rocket in the infrared range and determine the trajectory of its movement. The ground-based one includes over-the-horizon radars of the Voronezh family. They are designed for early detection of launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), determination of their flight trajectory and analysis of impact characteristics at a range of 6 thousand km and altitudes of 8 thousand km.
Voronezh is complemented by an over-the-horizon radar of the Container type. The station sees targets beyond the horizon, despite the curvature of the earth's surface. Its probing pulses can bounce off the upper atmosphere, go beyond the horizon, find a target there and return back.
In addition, the SPRN includes command posts for data processing.
The Fate of the World and a 46-cent chip
The fate of the whole world depends on the accuracy of determining a particular threat, whether it is real or a coincidence, Vladislav Shurygin recalled. Dangerous precedents have already happened. The most famous one occurred on September 26, 1983, when the Oko satellites of the early warning system mistook glare on clouds over the United States for launches of intercontinental missiles. Major Stanislav Petrov, who was on combat duty, decided to double-check the satellite data and discovered that the alarm was false. The high professionalism and endurance of the Soviet officer, in fact, prevented a global nuclear war.
There have also been failures on a similar system in the USA. On November 9, 1979, a massive Soviet missile launch was unexpectedly reported at the Cheyenne Mountain command post, the Pentagon, and Fort Ritchie. But after checking, it turned out that there was no attack, and someone accidentally uploaded a computer tape with a training simulation of a massive missile strike into the combat system. The alert lasted for several minutes, during which the Minuteman missiles managed to be put on alert, but confirmation from satellites and radars refuted the threat.
On June 3, 1980, the computers of the command posts recorded the launches of dozens and then 2.2 thousand missiles from Soviet submarines. After comparing data from different sources, the military realized that some kind of technical glitch was happening. It was later discovered that the source of the alarm was a defective 46—cent chip in the NORAD processor.
The role of the SPRN in Russia's security
Under the conditions of the end of the START Treaty, the role of the system becomes decisive — it provides a guarantee of a retaliatory strike against the aggressor who used nuclear weapons against our country, military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia.
"According to the agreement, we could receive information about any launches, any movement and maneuvers related to the strategic nuclear forces of the United States — now there is no such possibility," he said. — We cannot rely on the fact that a potential adversary will always be peaceful and will not try to deceive us at some point. In such a situation, the early warning system becomes the main guarantee that we will respond to any threat. This responsibility is much greater than before, because now there is no safety net.
Today, the SPRN is in the highest state of readiness, the expert explained.
She has been tested by a military special operation, as she performs not only her main tasks during it. Now it fully meets its objectives, but it will be upgraded as a result, he noted.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
