IDENTIFICATION OF SOVIET SOLID-PROPELLANT ROCKET FACILITIES CONFIRMED BY INDIAN PRODUCTION PLANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T05439A000500060016-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 16, 1965
• Content Type: BRIEF

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NO FOREIGN DISSEM/ CONTROLLED DISSEM
NO. DISSEM ABROAD
CIA/RR CB SC 65-7
16 April 1965
No. of Pages
7
Copy No. .
of 180
INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
IDENTIFICA.TTI.ON -
OF SOVIET SOLID-PROPELLANT ROCKET FACILITIES
CONFIRMED BY INDIAN PRODUCTION PLANS
Office of Research and Reports
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NO FOREIGN, DISSEM/ CONTROLLED DISSEM
NO DISSEM ABROAD
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GROUP 1
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
dedossificotion
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DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
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IDENTIFICATION OF SOVIET SOLID-PROPELLANT ROCKET
FACILITIES CONFIRMED BY INDIAN PRODt -- ON PLANS
Detailed documentary evidence on Soviet plans for construction of an in
stallation for the production testing of air-to-air missiles near Nasik, India,
permits the firm identification of five similar sites in the USSR as test facili-
ties for solid-propellant rockets. This conclusion is based on three primary
considerations, as follows: (1) the Nasik facility is of Soviet design; (2) it is
designed specifically for the static firing of solid-propellant rockets; and
(3) although smaller in size, the Nasik operational test area is identical in
design concept to the Soviet facilities. In addition, this newly acquired evi-
dence provides considerable insight into the operational procedures at Soviet
test facilities.
1. _ Background
During the last several years the construction of unique test facilities at
Krasnoyarsk, Perm', Biysk, Sterlitamak, and Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy has
been monitored in KEYHOLE photography. Photography of a representative
test facility at lrasnoyarsk is sewn in Figure '. 1_ These facilities are
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associated with chemical and explosives plai9ts and are different from-any
others identified in the USSR. Some of these plants traditionally have been
engaged in the production of conventional rockets. Since first observed, -
these test facilities have been the center of considerable discussion within
the intelligence community concerning both their purpose and capabilities.
The new evidence relating to the Nasik facility applies to both these ques-
tions.
Early this year, intelligence sources acquired a project report prepared
i -i January 1964 by the Ministry of Defense of the government of India for con-
struction of a missile plant nearNasiie, India. The project report establishes
the detailed planes for-implementing missile production under the. term's of the
Sovr-Indian agreement of August 1962--and states that the, plant will produce
the mechanical sections of the K-13, a Soviet solid-propellant air-to-air
mis- sile, designated by US intelligence as the AA-2.
The project report specifies the construction, as part of-the missile
plant, of a unique, isolated facility for static testing, under environmental
conditions, a part of the annual quota of missiles produced and-._-suggests that
the test facility be located near a "chemical factory. " As noted earlier, the
-five propulsion test facilities in the USSR are all adjacent to chemical and
explosives plants.
The operational area of the Indian production test facility is identical to
the five facilities in the USSR in design concept, although it is smaller in -
size. A comparison of the test areas at the Nasik and Krasnoyarsk facilities
(as shown in Figure 2) discloses the following features that are common to
both areas:
(1) An elaborately built-up blast deflector (Item A),
described in the project report as being for the purpose
of intercepting -fragments of the solid grain in tle exhaust
plume as well as those resulting from a possible explosion.
(2) A rocket motor test building (It-em'B), which is to
be constructed at Nasik of heavy reinforced concrete to
allow for static testing within the building.
(3) . A concrete strip running between the test building
and its associated blast deflector and up the face of the de-
flector,(Item C). As described for .the Nasik facility, this
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APPROXIMATELY 600. TO CONTROL CENTER .
TEST BUILCING
MOTOR SHOWN FOR ILLUSTRATION ONLY~-I
FIGURE 2.
SOLID-I'ROPLL1.AN7' ROCK'!:! '17:5'1 FA0117I.'
KRASNOYARSK, USSR
.......................................................fM.......,............................................ .....................................................................
SO! II)-PROI'l 11,1 N'1' ROCKE"I' 1 !! 1AC11.1'1'1'
. I I .u.~. , ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITImm.
TEST BUILDING
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HANGING
GIRDERS HANGING GIRDERS
100
,LET
L. In.
,TIM C_ 5....... ,, I......
? ;; i~..l..If?fi.~n. In 11. I'SSH.
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strip is composed of -heat -_resistant concrete and covers
the area at which the rocket exhaust impinges- on the blast
deflector.
. - Other -features inside the test building are described in the project re-
port for the Nasik facility, but these are not identifiable in KEYHOLE photog-
raphy of the Soviet installations. As noted in Figure 2, the plans locate
facilities within the test building for environmentally conditioning rocket
motors prior to -testing {ltem D). ,The plans al-so provide for the hanging of
girders in the fashion of "venetian blinds" at both ends of the test building_
in order to confine the trajectory of fragments from a rocket under test or
from an:explosion (Item E).
Some Implications of `th:e Evidence -
Togethe-, these features help considerably to explain the function of the
Soviet test facilities and should in turn lead to a better evaluation of Soviet
solid rocket programs. As described in the project report, the test building
most nearly rese#bles a "test tunnel. " The thrust of the rocket motor and
its position within the building appear to be closely related to the width of
the test tunnel, the height of the hanging girders, and the size and location
of the blast. deflector. An understanding of these interrelationships at the - -
Nasik facility should permit a better assessment of the size and thrust of'
the solid motors undergoing test at the five Soviet facilities.
Because all the test facilities of this type in the USSR. are larger than the
one at Nasik, it is- clear that they are intended for testing larger motors. A
technical analysis by the Air Force Foreign Technology Division (FTD) of the
thrust capability of the Soviet test facilities, based primarily on the distance
between the test building and the blast deflector, indicates that the maximum
thrust at the largest facility -could be about 300,.000 pounds for a single
motor. If the 'TD analysis-were applied to the Nasik facility, it would yield
a thrust capability of approximately '17, 000 pounds.. *-Because the K-13 motor
to be tested at the Indian facility has a thrust rating on the order of 4, 000
pounds, it appears that the Soviet facilities operate considerably below.-their
apparent theoretical capabilities. Moreover, placement of the motor within
the test building limits the amount of propellant that can be handled, and this
too tends to limit the size and thrust of the motor. Further analysis may
delineate the .maximum specifications of solid rockets undergoing tests at
Soviet-=facilities, but at this time the procedures indicated by the project
report-imply that they are designed for handling motors of moderate size.
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