Russia: Military Programs
		Russia Home | Launch Capabilities | Military Programs | Arms Control

Jump to: Satellites, Early Warning, Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Weapons

According to Russian Space Forces Commander Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin, there are approximately 60 Russian military satellites currently in orbit.[1] This represents a decrease of two-and-a-half fold since 1990.[1] However, there has been an increase in the percentage of satellites functioning within their normal service lives from 19% in 1999 to 40%.[1] Popovkin points to this as a qualitative change in Russia's military satellite fleet and notes that Russia is again testing new technologies.[1]

Russia has five types of imagery reconnaissance satellites available for use, the Kometa, Kobalt, Yenisey, Araks (Arkon), and Neman, with development continuing on the Monitor series of satellites. The Kometa (Yantar-1KFT), which is launched every one or two years for about 45 days, updates military topographic and mapping data by photographing a wide area.[4,5] In September 2004 Russia launched a modernized Kobalt (Yantar-4K2) satellite, the Kosmos-2410, which has an orbital life of six months, compared to the previous version's four months of service.[6] The Kobalt satellite provides detailed photo-reconnaissance data and is estimated to have 20 retrievable film capsules to deliver the exposed film while still in orbit.[4,6] Yenisey (Orlets-2) satellites remain in orbit for about one year and take high-resolution, wide-format photographs of the Earth's surface.[7] Russia launched two Yenisey satellites, but both were de-orbited in April 2001.[8] The Kometa, Kobalt, and Yenisey satellites all rely on film capsules to preserve their images, which limits their orbital lives.[4,5] The Araks and the Neman (Yantar-4KS1) satellites, however, relay their images digitally.[2] In July 2002, Russia launched an Araks satellite with an estimated operating life of up to three years, and a Neman (Yantar-4KS1) satellite in August 2003 with an orbital life of one year.[2] Neither satellite is functioning any longer.[3] The Monitor satellite series is expected to have military applications, as the original Monitor-E launched in August of 2005 has an eight-meter resolution, and future versions are to have resolutions better than one meter.[9] Due to the light weight of the satellite (only 750 kg), the cost of manufacturing and orbiting a satellite of this type--versus the older, heavier types--is much less, while being equal or better in terms of performance.[9]

Russia operates two series of electronic intelligence (ELINT) satellites, the Tselina-2 land target reconnaissance and the naval reconnaissance satellite, EORSAT.[10] The most recent Tselina-2 satellite was launched in 2000 and has an estimated orbital life of one to two years.[10,12] An EORSAT satellite, Kosmos-2405, was launched in May 2004 and has a life expectancy of 18 months.[13]

Russia currently has four types of dedicated military communications satellites: Strela-3, Molniya-3K, Geizer, and Raduga.[4,10] The Strela-3 satellites receive and transmit communications from isolated areas and act as the central communications system for the Main Intelligence Directorate, while the Molniya satellites are used for general purpose military communications.[4,10] After the launch failure of a Molniya-3K satellite in July 2005, Space Troops Commander Popovkin announced that production of the Molniya-3K will cease and will be replaced by a new communications satellite.[11] The Raduga satellites provide real-time military communications services, including leadership and strategic forces communication.[4,10] The Geizer functions as the relay satellite for data gathered by the Neman and Araks reconnaissance satellites.[2] Since 1997 Russia has launched 16 Strela-3 satellites, four Molniya-3K, three Raduga, and one Geizer, although not all of these satellites remain operational.[4]

Glonass satellite.

Russia's navigation satellite capabilities include the Parus and GLONASS systems. The Parus satellite system provides navigation and communication services to the Russian navy, and Russia has launched seven Parus satellites since 1997.[4,14] Russia continues to work on completion of the GLONASS (Global National Satellite System) dual-use system of navigation satellites, similar to the U.S. GPS, and plans to have 24 satellites in operation by 2010.[15] Out of the necessary 18 required for continuous coverage, only 11 GLONASS satellites were operational in mid-2004, with the hope of achieving the full 18 by 2008.[1] There have been tests of GLONASS satellites with a seven-year lifespan compared to the current three years, and there are plans for achieving 10-12 year spans by 2006.[1] The GLONASS system is said by Commander Popovkin to be meeting "all the demands of the Armed Forces."[1] There are concerns that with the limited coverage available, the GLONASS system will not be able to meet the needs of Russian users, who are likely to turn to the U.S. GPS system and the European Galileo system currently being developed. [16]

Besides reconnaissance, navigation, and communications satellites, Russia also possesses ballistic missile early warning, space monitoring, anti-ballistic missile (ABM), and anti-satellite (ASAT) systems.[17] Since the fall of the Soviet Union, these systems are at varying stages of deterioration, though Russia has made a commitment to reestablish its capabilities, particularly in the areas of ballistic missile early warning and space monitoring.[17,18]
 

[Top]

Russia's ballistic missile early warning network consists of both a ground-based system (Soviet Missile Attack Warning System or SPRN) and a satellite network.[17] The ground-based radar stations are located throughout the former Soviet Union, and not all governments have cooperated with Russian efforts to upgrade the stations.[17] In October 2003 Russia activated the Volga radar station, designed to detect ballistic missiles and space objects.[18] The activation of the radar station, located in Belarus, "sealed a breach that existed in the northwestern sector due to the shutdown of a radar station in Latvia's Skrunda in the 1990s," according to Perminov.[18] 

Two types of satellites in different orbits comprise the satellite component of Russia's ballistic missile early warning network: the Oko satellites launched into high elliptical orbit and the Prognoz satellites launched into geostationary orbit, which serve as backups to the Oko satellites.[19,20] The effectiveness of the system depends on the number of satellites operating in orbit (ideally, nine Oko and seven Prognoz satellites). Since 1996 gaps have appeared in hte network.[4,19,20] At the time of launch in February 2004 of an additional Oko satellite, there were two Oko satellites in orbit and one Prognoz in operation.[21]

Russia's space monitoring system (SKKP) tracks and controls Russian satellites and detects and identifies space objects through its network of ground-based tracking stations, a group of ship-based space-tracking radars, SPRN and ABM radars, as well as opto-electronic and laser sensors located in Tajikistan.[17] As part of efforts in 2003 to upgrade its space monitoring system,  Russia prioritized beginning operation of the Okno optoelectronic system in Tajikistan, which allows detection of space objects at a distance of up to 40,000 km.[22]
 

[Top]