SOVIET ANTIBALLISTIC MISSILE ACTIVITY AT KAMCHATKA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T05439A000500370062-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2003
• Sequence Number: 62
• Publication Date: October 18, 1965
• Content Type: IR

ILLEGIB Approved For Release 2003/09/30 : CIA-RDP78TO5439A000500370062-2
Approved For Release 2003/09/30 : CIA-RDP78TO5439A000500370062-2
 Scientific Intelligence Report
SOVIET ANTIBALLISTIC' MISSILE ACTIVITY
AT KAMCHATKA
25X1A
OSI-SR/TCS/65-14
18 October 1965
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Science and Technology
Office of Scientific Intelligence
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 PREFACE
Although Soviet antiballistic missile (ABM) research and develop-
ment is primarily conducted at the Sary Shagan Missile Test Center,
there has been some speculation that suchworkwas also being con-
ducted in the Kamchatka impact area. In considering this possibility,
a detailed study was prepared on the activities at the Kamchatka
impact area. Because the study is primarily a historical compila-
tion of these events, OSI does not intend to publish the basic study.
This report summarizes the findings of the study which relate to
antiballistic missile activity. Information through December 1964
was used in compiling the detailed study; nothing has occurred since
that would alter the findings. -The basic study will be retained in OSI
files, and a copy can be made available to persons requiring greater
detail than is provided in this report.
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Page
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . ... . . .
.
1
DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.
1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
..
1
Probable Antimissile Systems Authority, Peschanyy
2
Kamchatka terminal range facilities . . . . . . . . . . .
.
2
Major Kamchatka instrumentation site . . . . . . . . . .
.
3
1. Locations of the Kamchatka Terminal Range 2
- Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. ' Peschanyy, Kamchatka ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
342/03 v
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 SOVIET ANTIBALLISTIC MISSILE ACTIVITY
eT KAMCHATKA
CONCLUSIONS
1. It is almost certain that there have
been no antimissile firings from the
Kamchatka area. A unit that is probably,
associated w i t h antimissile-related
activities is 1 o c ate d at Peschanyy,*
Kamchatka, . but its f u n c t i o n is
unknown.
2. Since 1959, this unit at Peschanyy
has possibly been involved in collecting
data on reentry observables. However,
these data could be used in either ABM
or ICBM research and developmentpro-
grams, and nothing about them points
exclusively toward ABM activities.
On 21 August 1957, an ICBM launched
from Tyuratam impacted some 3,400
nautical miles away on the Kamchatka
Peninsula. This was the first of one_hun-
dred thirty-six such f i r i n g s con-
ducted t? h r o u g h 1964. This number
excludes the 33 missiles launched from
. Tyuratam to ranges extending beyond the
nominal range to Kamchatka.--5
5X1 D
During the course of t series of
X1 D launchings to Kamchatka,
Islands, first detected returns from ex-
tra objects" associated with reentries of
Soviet ICBM's in the Kamchatka area in
These returns, which supplemented
e normal returns from the reentry ve-
hicle and the tankage, had the usual
characteristics of real physical targets,
but the identity of such targets was then
inexplicable. 6
25X1 D
This possibility has now e
entirely negated. One reason for sus-
pecting initially that these objects were
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 25X1 D
not-antimissile missiles was the fact that
other. typical indicators of an AMM launch
(such as telemetry from the AMM,
acoustical detection and optical observa-
tion). were all negative. Additionally, no
launch sites could be identified in the
area. More recently, the extra objects
have been identified as fragments which
resulted from the reentry breakup of So-
viet' ICBM sustainers, and not from any
antimissile m i s s i 1 e activities. This
identification was made on . the basis of
in- connection with the reentry breakup of
several US ICBM sustainers and obser-
vation of their resulting fragments.6
PROBABLE ANTIMISSILE SYSTEMS
25X1 D --AUTHORITY, PESCHANYY
.Peschanyy, and probably subordinate to
PVO Strany.
Although considerable information on
the construction phase of the Peschanyy
the probable ASA unit at Peschanyy is in-
volved in collecting data on reentry
,characteristics of ICBM warheads as
part. of the antiballistic-missile systems
research and development program, and
not directly related to antimissile mis-
sile activities.
It is. almost inconceivable that reentry
phenomena would not be monitored on
Kamchatka, the land impact area of the
only ICBM test range in the Soviet Union.
KAMCHATKA TERMINAL RANGE
FACILITIES
*The Antiaircraft Defense of the Country, Protivo-
vozdushnaya Oborona Strany. -
The terminal range facilities for the
Tyuratam Missile Test Range (TTMTR)
were first observed during a high alti-
tude photo reconnaissance mission over.
Kamchatka c The terminal
range includes an impa area, a com-
munications center, and from 5 to 7 in-
strumentation sites. (See figure 1.) These
facilities, which are sometimes referred
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25X1 D
25X1 D
25X1 D
 tG2'C._
PeschanyyT31 I KIN ti.L~. 1 V. 1
Uka, (,173:\
r-,
57'OJ' \
11
COMMUNICATIONS
CENTER ? ~I-
Figure 1
Locations of the Kamchatka Terminal
Range Facilities
I 2
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 TOP SECRET
to as the Klyuchi Complex, are used in
the t e r m in a 1 trajectory tracking of
ICBM's launched from the Tyuratam
Missile Test Center (TTMTC) and pos-
sibly for ABM-related research .P 10Kam-
chatka and TTMTR have been linked
MAJOR KAMCHATKA
25X1 n TION SITE
TA
permanent runway, a 110-foot diameter.
dome similar to those observed at the
Sary Shagan Missile Test Center, eighty
or more buildings of various types, and
a 270-foot high lattice tower.? By Decem-
ber 1963, the number of buildings near
the instrumentation area had increased
to more than one-hundred, most ofwhich
were in the housing/support area. 12 (See
figure 2.) In addition, an entire section
of buildings located in the southern part
of the babl constructed be-
tween This
section contains a housing area of ap-
proximately seventy buildings and a
petroleum storage area. 10 The remaining
instrumentation sites are, smaller and
less -*s i g n i .f i c ant than the site
at Peschanyy. Only one of them has an
interferometer. 9
IN01 UMEN
25X1 D
The major Kamchatka instrumentation
site is located at Peschanyy (57'56'N-
162001'E). This site is served by the
communications installation which has
25X1 D been given the arbitrary designator
by the Sigint communityl6 this
site included among its face 1 les i) an
instrumentation area and (ii) an inter-
ferometer almost identical to that at the
Tyuratam Missile Test Center range-
head.9 10 17 A considerable build-up in
logistics a n d construction in the
Peschanvy a r e a was noted through
Photographs I
..confirmed the expansion of the facilities
at Peschanyy and specifically showed the
additions of an airfield with a 6,300-foot
2.5X11 D
t,. 25X1 D
In addition to tracking ICBM's impact-
ing on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the
Kamchatka terminal range facilities are
also responsible for tracking artificial
earth satellites, Venus and lunar probes,
and surface-to-surface missiles
launched to an extended distance down-
range from TTMTC. 18 The nature of this
activity lends itself readily to performing
comparable tasks while participating in
an ABM research and development pro-
gram: Although the environs of the Kam-
chatka -impact area have been.searched
thoroughly for photographic evidence of
an AMM launch site, no such installation
has been revealed. So long as ICBM's
impact on Kamchatka, however, future
firings of AMM's from this area of the
Soviet Union r e m a i n a distinct
possibility.
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