MISSILE-ASSOCIATED FACILITY NEAR EMBA, USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B04560A000800010016-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 18, 2004
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: July 1, 1963
• Content Type: REPORT

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N P I C/R-159/63
July 1963
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION REPORT
MISSILE-ASSOCIATED FACILITY
NEAR EMBA, USSR
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NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER
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PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION REPORT
N P I C/R-159/63
July 1963
NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER
MISSILE-ASSOCIATED FACILITY
NEAR EMBA, USSR
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This report, prepared in response to CIA requirement OSI/289/62
I presents a photographic
study of the missile- associated facility near Emba, USSR.
The only photography of this installation is that rovidediI
and small scale of this photography preclude the determination of
exact measurements and the assigning of definite functions to many
buildings and areas.
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The Emba Missile-Associated Facility ap-
pears to be a major testing or research and
development facility rather than an operational-
type missile facilit . It was still under con-
struction the date of the latest
photography, and the particular type of missile
activity cannot be determined at this time.
The facility includes a probable launch
area with associated support facilities and a sep-
arate administrative and logistical support area.
The launch-associated facilities, located in
the southern part of the installation, consist
of a probable launch area, a technical support
area, and an instrumented range containing
eleven instrumentation sites which form a bell-
shaped pattern extending approximately 35
nautical miles (nm) in a south-southwesterly
direction.
The administrative and logistical support
area, located in the northern part of the in-
stallation, includes a rail-served support area
A and an adjoining airfield with a 7,500 foot
runway.
I
The Emba Missile-Associated Facility at
48-45N 58-04E (Figure 1) is under construction
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PAKISTAN chose recognised by the/U. S. Oovernmenr
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south of Emba, a town on the Kazakh railroad
system 275 nm northwest of Tyura Tam.
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NPIC/R-159/63
FIGURE 2. MISSILE-ASSOCIATED FACILITY AT EMBA
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This facility was first observed
he
only available photo coverage of this area rior
to this date was photography I
Although snow covered, this photography
showed no evidence of a railroad or construction
activity in the area south of Emba.
the following=
missions have provided fair pho-
tography of this facility
This report is based on
photography resulting from the
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missions (Figures 2 and 3) and de-
scribes the changes resulting from construction
activity
Support area A is located 4 nm south-
southwest of Emba, on the east bank of the
Emba River (Figure 4). This support base,
which occupies an area 9,000 by 5,000 feet,
contains about 114 buildings and two sets of
rail sidings having a total length of 10,000
feet. This appears to be the main support
base. A rail line from this base joins the main
railroad at Emba.
The buildings are primarily grouped into
two separate areas. The northern area appears
to be an administrative and housing area and
contains 56 buildings, most of which measure
about 50 by 25 feet. The southern area con-
tains 33 buildings, most of which measure 130
by 30 feet, and appears to be a barracks or
warehouse area. There are approximately 25
additional buildings on the base, of which five
are major buildings, measuring from 150 to
215 feet long and from 40 to 65 feet wide.
This support base is still under con-
struction. Of the present 114 buildings, two
major buildings and 23 others had been con-
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Earth scarring throughout the area indicates
preliminary activity for future construction.
Two sets of rail spurs are located im-
mediately south of the building areas. One
set, composed of three rail spurs, each 1,500
feet long and 225 feet apart, points northward
toward the building areas. The western-
most spur appears to serve a possible heating
plant located near the end of the spur, and may
be elevated to facilitate unloading of material
from hopper cars. The other two spurs do
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not appear ver activ o issions 25X1
The second 25X1 11
set of rail spurs points southward and is com-
posed of three rail spurs, each 1,800 feet
long and 375 feet apart, plus a short 600-
foot rail spur which terminates in a "Y"
fork.
The southern set of rail spurs appears
more active than the northern set. On =
photography a few small warehouses
an a itt e open storage were visible. Pho-
tography revealed that a few
additional small warehouses had been con-
structed, additional material was being stored
in the open areas between the rail spurs, and
the short 600 foot long rail spur had been
constructed Construction activity
is probably still in progress since the full
capabilities of these rail sidings did not appear
to be in use.
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Emba Airfield is located 6.5 nm south-
west of Emba and just south of Support Area
A (Figure 5). The airfield has a single graded-
earth runway, 7,500 feet long by 650 feet wide
and oriented northeast/southwest. An elec-
tronics landing facility, possibly a TOKEN
radar, is located approximately 4,000 feet south-
east of the south end of the runway. The
airfield is rail- and road-served by the same
system that serves support area A.
The runway appeared serviceable
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Ithe date of the earliest photography
of this airfield. Construction activity, however,
is still in progress. The width of the runway
had doubled LI
The on y
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Earth scarring and construction activity
are apparent near the north end of the runway
in the vicinity of the railroad terminus. In-
creased track activity is apparent throughout
the airfield area.
Three medium-sized transport aircraft
and ten smaller unidentified aircraft were
present at the airfield
Aircraft were possibly present on the
earlier missions, but poor photo quality pre-
cluded a determination of number or type.
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UNIDENTIFIED FACILITY AND RAIL-TO-ROAD TRANSFER POINT
An unid
if
ent
ied facility and an adjacent rail-
to-road transfer Point, (Figure 6) are located
3 nm south-southeast of support area A
at the terminus of the railroad line from
Emba.
The unidentified facility occupies a rec-
tangular area approximately 1,500 by 1,100
feet which contains six large buildings and five
small structures. The largest building measures
170 by 65 feet and the other five buildings
each measure approximately 125 by 50 feet.
Earth scarring around the periphery of this
area may be ditches. On the eastern edge
of the facility a short rail spur appears to
Support area B (Figure 7) is located 11 area, which occupies an area 5,000 by 1,600
nm south of support area A and 8 nm south
of the rail-to-road transfer pointThis support feet, contains approximately 25 buildings prob-
. ably used for shops, barracks, or storage. It
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FIGURE 5. EMBA AIRFIELD
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lead to a large pit, 150 by 80 feet, which has
a spoil pile or a building at its southern edge.
This unidentified facility appears active, but
no significant chap e in the area was apparent
The rai -to-road transfer point is located
just north of the unidentified facility. at the
end of a 4, 000-foot long rail spur. No build-
ings are evident at this transfer point, but
some materials appear to be stored in the open
near the rail terminus. Roads leading from
this transfer point connect with all major facil-
ities. There was no apparent change in this
are
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is located just north of the rangehead instru-
mentation sites and probably provides support
for the operations at the instrumentation sites
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NPIC/R-159/63
and the probable launch area. There was no
apparent significant change in this support
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The probable launch area is located 3
nm south-southwest of support area B and
19 nm south-southwest of the town of Emba.
The probable launch area (Figure 8) is en-
olosed in a rectangular double-fenced area
measuring approximately 1,600 by 1,300 feet.
The road pattern within the fenced area forms
a rectangle approximately 800 by 600 feet,
with an offset, north-south, center road (Figure
9). The roads appear to be hard surfaced
and on a slight fill in order to maintain a common
level. On the inside of both the east and west
parallel roads is a white square area, ap-
proximately 75 feet on a side, which may be
a vehicle hardstand or possibly the initial
stages of launch pad construction. A low build-
ing or hardstand, 180 by 75 feet, is located
on the northwest edge of the rectangular road
pattern, and two small buildings are located
near the northwest corner of the center offset
road. Three small buildings, one of which
is bunkered, are located just northeast of the
fenced area and appear to be directly associated
with operations in the probable launch area.
Outside the probable launch area, the roads
do not appear to be graded or surfaced to
provide smooth and finished access from the
support facilities. While it is apparent that
this area is still under construction, little
significant change was noted in the probable
launch area
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area. Four of
the eastern leg
A smaller double-fenced area, 1,000 by in the fenced area, but the quality of the
800 feet, is located approximately 2,000 feet photography precludes a more detailed des crip-
southeast of the probable launch area. A few tion of this area. There was no apparent change
small buildings or bunkers are discernible with- in this area
The eleven instrumentation sites associated
with this facility form a bell-shaped pattern
oriented in a south-southwesterly direction.
Three of the instrumentation sites are located
near the apex of the bell-shaped pattern just
north of the probable launch
the instrumentation sites form
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of the pattern which extends for 40 nm, and
four sites form the western leg of the pattern
which extends for 33 nm. The distance across
the range between the most southern instru-
mentation site on each leg is 35 nm. Figure
3 shows the instrumentation pattern and the
approximate distance between the sites.
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Five of these sites--sites 2, 6, 7, 8, and
9-- are extensively developed and similar in
layout design. Figure 10 shows instrumentation
site 6, which is typical of these five sites,
except that it is the only site secured by fenc-
ing. In addition to a few support buildings,
each of these five sites is characterized by
a unique arrangement of five buildings in a
row. A large rectangular building, 175 by
40 feet, is flanked on each side by two smaller
square buildings, 40 by 40 feet. The major,
or long, axis of this row of buildings at sites
6, 7, 8, and 9 appears to lie parallel to and
looking in toward the nominal flight line. These
four major sites are located the farthest
from the probable launch area and are the last.
two sites on each leg of the instrumentation
pattern. Site 2, however, which is similar,
is located at or near the apex of the pattern
in the vicinity of the probable launch area.
This site has the same arrangement of five
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buildings in a row, but the long axis of these
buildings is perpendicular to the range axis
and looks down the nominal line of flight.
These five sites appear to contain more
instrumentation than any identified instrumen-
tation site at known Sino-Soviet missile test
centers. The identification of these areas as
instrumentation sites is based on the point-
to-point interconnection of earth scars, the
typical arrangement of the sites along the
nominal flight line, and the similarity of this
instrumentation pattern to that at Shuang- cheng-
tzu 1/ and Kapustin Yar/Vladimirovka Missile
Test Center. 2/
The remaining six instrumentation sites--
sites 1, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 11-- are smaller
than the others and cannot be described in
detail from available photography. However,
sites 4, 5, 10, and 11 appear to be similar,
each consisting of a single, possibly circular,
building.
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FIGURE 9. CONCEPT OF PROBABLE LAUNCH AREA.
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 The area south of the Emba facility be-
tween the Aral and Caspian Seas and approxi-
mately 600 nm to the Iranian border was searched
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NPIC/R-159/63
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? in building construction.
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t instrumentation sites
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 11. Construction activity
was very apparent, however, at sites 6, 7,
8, and 9, the four major sites farthest from
the launch. and support areas. Several miles
of new earth scarring or forest clearing,
indicative of new roads, trails, pipelines, cables,
and/or powerlines connect these sites to each
other and to the rangehead area.
Building construction at the four major sites
(6, 7, 8, and 9) was in various stages of
completion
photography it appeared that building con-
struction had been completed, since all four
sites had now attained the same characteristic
building layout pattern. The following descrip-
tion of changes in these sites
photography and no apparent change
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Site 7. The five characteristic buildings and
two support buildings were a arent on
lphotographyl -1 a few
ings
There was no apparent change in the build-
building construction appeared completed.
additional buildings were observed and the
Site 8. photography no buildings
were present and only the initial stages
of site clearing were observed
EJ the site clearing appeared completed
and the initial stages
ing construction were apparent
he buildings appeared to be com-
pleted.
Site 9. On photography the site was
cleared and initial building construction
was evident. On photography the
buildings appeared to be completed, and
there was no apparent change in the build-
ings
DOWN-RANGE INSTRUMENTATION
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The buildings appear completed on
photography, but no
instrumentation sites or major
electronics installations were observed. This
area south of the facility encompasses thousands
of square miles of the desolate Plato Ustyurt
and Peski Karakumy that could serve as im-
pact areas.
Five large probable geological prospecting
camps were observed at various isolated lo-
cations in the eastern half of the Plato Ustyurt
west and southwest of the Aral Sea. These
camps are very similar in design, each con-
tain 25-30 buildings, and are characterized by
very intensive track activity within a few miles
of the camp area. While it appears that the
primary function of these camps is gas or
oil prospecting, the possibility does exist that,
in this forbidding area where logistics is such
a major problem, some type of instrumentation
or electronics may be associated with these
camps. A large-scale, low-oblique photograph
of one of these camps may be found in USSR
Illustrated Monthly. 3/
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DOCUMENTS
1. NPIC. R-36/62, Shuang-cheng-tzu Missile Center China, Mar 62 (TOP SECRET
2. CIA. PIC/JR-1008/61 Surface-to-Air Missile Facilities Ka ustin Yar ladimirovk i i e Test Center USSR,
Mar 61 (SECRE
3. Krupin, Vladimir. "Nightingales Stay in the Desert," USSR Illustrated Monthly, v.75, no 12, Dec 62, p.18-19
(UNCLASSIFIED)
REQUIREMENTS
CIA. OSI/289/62
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 Approved For Release 2004/05/12. CIA-RDP78BO456OA000800010016-3
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