Daryal radar (radar station)

The rapid development of the attack weapon makes increased demands on the tactical and technical parameters of the means of warning about possible aggression. The radar "Daryal" (radar station) for almost two decades was an important element of such systems.

On the verge

In 1960, the US launched a program to deploy the latest intercontinental ballistic missiles, Minuteman-1, capable of launching a few seconds after receiving the appropriate command. The tactics of conducting a possible Third World War have changed; The main role in drawing the decisive blow now belonged not to military strategic aviation, but to missile carriers. In the mid-1960s, the United States had a seventeen-fold superiority in improved means of delivering nuclear weapons, which made it possible to destroy the entire atomic potential of the Soviet Union with one salvo.

For early warning of the impending attack in the USSR, in 1960, a special missile attack warning system (SPRN) began to be created.

Persuasive argument

It is noteworthy that some military officials could not fully realize the importance of the projected system, calling a waste of state resources for equipment that does not damage the enemy and does not knock down his missiles. At one of the decisive meetings of the Military Industrial Commission, in response to another critical remark, Academician, Lieutenant-General, Engineer A. N. Shchukin quoted lines from Pushkin's "Tales of the Golden Cockerel" - those where "The faithful watchman will turn around, turn around and scream. .. ". The literary example affected skeptics and, according to the Government Decree of 1962, the implementation of the project to create a complex early detection of attacking missiles began. The first generation of the "Dniester" radar and its modified version of the "Dnepr", even before it was put into service, have lost relevance. They were not able to control, created by a potential adversary, rockets with separated warheads of small size.

All-seeing eye

In 1966, the Radiotechnical Institute began work on creating a radically new radar with a huge radiant power - the radar Daryal, capable of detecting an object the size of a soccer ball at a distance of 6 thousand km. The main designer was Viktor Ivantsov. The first construction of the radar "Daryal" was supposed to be erected at the very rocket-dangerous direction. More than a third of all the intercontinental missiles in the US arsenal were aimed at the capital of the Soviet Union - Moscow - and the central regions of the country, with the flight path through the North Pole. Preliminary calculations of specialists showed that the station should be located as far north as possible (roughly in the Franz Josef Land area), but such a large-scale construction in severe arctic conditions entails enormous difficulties. It was decided to build a station on the mainland.

Daryal radar station. Komi ASSR

For the deployment, a site was chosen near the town of Pechora, just 200 km from the Arctic Circle. Due to the huge power consumption of the equipment, the project started simultaneously with the construction of the Pechora GRES in 1974. At the heart of the radar "Daryal" is a huge complex of equipment, consisting of more than 4 thousand blocks of electronic radio equipment. High-rise buildings of the reception (100 m) and transmitting (40 m) antennas are separated by a certain distance, calibrated to a millimeter. The power and water consumption of the station were equivalent to the needs of the average city, with a population of 100 thousand people. The pulse power of the Daryal radar (Pechora, Pechora, according to NATO classification) exceeded 370 MW in peak.

A special robotic complex is provided for maintenance and replacement of radio-array phased array antenna (FAS) units during operation. The basis of the computer system of the station is a microprocessor vector-parallel computer, capable of producing more than 5 million operations per second.

The first on the battle post

Pechora radar "Daryal" in January 1984, successfully passed a series of tests, was adopted for service. Builders and engineering personnel managed to meet the deadlines, despite the abundance of difficulties of a natural and technical nature. So, when pouring the foundation plate, frosts suddenly hit. To prevent the freezing of concrete helped Russian savvy - the mixture was heated by homemade electrodes, giving them electrical voltage.

Another emergency situation occurred during the commissioning. There was a fire of the radio-transparent cover of the transmitting center. More than 80% of the surface burned out due to the lack of staff fire extinguishing means. Having mobilized all possible reserves, within two months the manufacturing plant in Syzran made a new canvas (it would take at least a year to create it in regular mode), and the consequences of the fire were eliminated as soon as possible. For reference: in view of the incident, a shelter of noncombustible material was developed for the subsequent radars of the project.

In the space patrol

The first of the project, the radar "Daryal" ("Pechora") was on alert duty. The photo of the structure gives a clear idea of the scope of the work performed. In all, six more such nodes had to be built along the perimeter of the country, enclosing the territory in an impenetrable radar ring:

• "Gabala", Azerbaijan SSR.
• "Skrunda", the Latvian SSR.
• "Berehove", Mukachevo, the Ukrainian SSR.
• "Balkhash", the Kazakh SSR.
• "Michelevka", Irkutsk region.
• "Eniseysk", the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The site in Pechora completely controlled the entire northern direction. The second and last, implemented and commissioned project of the first stage, was a station in Azerbaijan.

Guarding the southern borders

The erection of an object near the town. Kutkashen (after the collapse of the USSR - Gabala) in the Transcaucasian republic began in 1982. The work area covered more than 200 hectares. About 20 thousand military builders were involved. The date of the "Darial" radar ("Gabala") radar attack is considered February 1985, although only three years later the construction works were completed. The main constructive difference of the Gabala node is the lack of a computer system. The obtained observation data were broadcast to the information processing centers "Shvertbot" and "Square" located in the Moscow region.

The station completely controlled the southern strategic direction, covering the lands of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, North Africa, Pakistan and India, most of the Indian Ocean, including the coast of Australia. The radar in Gabala confirmed its technical perfection during the Iran-Iraq conflict, fixing all the military launches of Iraqi Scud missiles (139 units) and during Operation Desert Storm (302 starts).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the concluded agreements between the governments of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan allowed the unit in the southern part of the Caucasian Range to maintain regular service until 2012, when the station was withdrawn from the Russian ASWS.

The show in Skrunda

In the mid-80s of the last century, 4 km from the town of Skrunda (Latvian SSR), next to the existing Dnepr radar (Skrunda-1), construction of another Daryal of a standard design began. After the construction of the receiving antenna and the delivery of equipment (1990), it was assumed that in the first stage the radar of the Dnieper would be used as a radiator. But after gaining independence by the Baltic republics, the object became the property of Latvia. The efforts of the Russian side aimed at preserving the radar did not bring positive results, and in 1994 the Russian servicemen left the station.

A year later the receiving antenna was destroyed by employees of the American company. Foreign specialists showed the present show to Latvians. Before the explosion, they staged a colorful firework across the entire height of the building, and after the main charges were triggered, the structure collapsed like a demolished giant.

The mystery of the Krasnoyarsk radar station

On the assurances of the former builders and employees of the Yeniseisk-15 node, this station had such a radiation power, the energy of which could disable the electronics of the navigation system of the ballistic missile. Is it so, now do not find out. For the sake of the former likely enemy, and in the early 90s, the strategic partner - the United States, the almost finished radar type "Daryal" was dismantled. The formal reason was that the station's location was contrary to the provisions of the ABM Treaty.

The destruction of the town-forming enterprise turned into a humanitarian disaster for the village of Yeniseisk-15. More than a thousand people were left without work and livelihood, literally abandoned by the state to the mercy of fate. Probably, in the future, the descendants will find the answer to the question, to whom the Krasnoyarsk radar "Daryal" interfered. Photo of the remains of the grandiose structure in the heart of the Siberian taiga will be a good accusatory document.

Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Ukraine

The station in the Irkutsk region was commissioned in 1992, but two years later the facility was conserved. Since 1999, the site has been used by civilian authorities to study the upper atmosphere. Six years ago, the construction was dismantled, releasing the site for the construction of the next generation radar.

"Daryal" near the city of Balkhash in East Kazakhstan in 2002 was transferred to the authorities of a sovereign state. Two years later, as a result of a major fire, the building completely burned out, and later the remains of structural elements and equipment were plundered. Finally, the building collapsed in 2010.

Objects on Cape Khersones, near Sevastopol and near Mukachev (Western Ukraine) were abandoned unfinished, and in the 2000s were dismantled.

Russia's nuclear shield

The gaps in the missile defense of Russia should completely eliminate the next-generation SAWS on the basis of the Voronezh-type radar, high factory readiness. The temporary and resource costs for the construction of these sites have been significantly reduced, compared with the "Daryaly", which allowed in the last decade to put into operation seven similar stations. The objects are integrated into the missile defense (ABM) system, and their function includes not only the detection of targets, but also tracking and target designation.

In addition, as a backup, in the event of failure of the main stations, a mini-radar system was created. This equipment is easily disguised as a simple cargo container and can be located anywhere. The work of the complex is completely autonomous and automated.