This was followed by the prototype Duga, built on the same site, which was able to track launches from the far east and submarines in the Pacific Ocean as the missiles flew towards Novaya Zemlya. The first experimental system, Duga, was built outside Mykolaiv in Ukraine, successfully detecting rocket launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi). An over-the-horizon radar sited in the USSR would help solve this problem, and work on such a system for this associated role started in the late 1960s. At the time, the Soviet early-warning satellite network was not well developed. None of these systems had the capability to provide early warning of a launch, within seconds or minutes of a launch, which would give the defences time to study the attack and plan a response.
The Soviets had been working on early warning radar for their anti-ballistic missile systems through the 1960s, but most of these had been line-of-sight systems that were useful for rapid analysis and interception only. While the amateur radio community was well aware of the system, this theory was not publicly confirmed until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. NATO military intelligence had already given it the reporting name STEEL WORK or STEEL YARD likely based on the massive size of the antenna which spanned 700 metres (2,300 ft) in length and 150 metres (490 ft) in height. However, because of its distinctive transmission pattern, many experts and amateur radio hobbyists quickly realized it to be an over-the-horizon radar system. The unclaimed signal was a source for much speculation, giving rise to theories such as Soviet mind control and weather control experiments. The signal became such a nuisance that some receivers used on amateur radio and television, began including "Woodpecker Blankers" in their circuit designs. The random frequency hops disrupted legitimate broadcasts, amateur radio operations, oceanic commercial aviation communications, and utility transmissions, resulting in thousands of complaints by many countries worldwide. They were nicknamed Russian Woodpecker by shortwave listeners for their emissions randomly appearing and sounding like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise at 10 Hz rate.
The duga systems were extremely powerful, reaching over 10 MW, and broadcast in the shortwave radio bands. Two operational duga radars were deployed, one near Chernobyl and Chernihiv in the Ukrainian SSR (present-day Ukraine), the other in eastern Siberia. The system operated from July 1976 to December 1989.
A backplane axial reflector of small wires can just be seen left of center, most clearly at the bottom of the image.ĭuga (Russian: Дуга́, literally "arc" or "curve") was a Soviet over-the-horizon radar (OTH) system used as part of the missile defense early-warning radar network. The array of pairs of cylindrical/conical cages on the right are the active elements, fed at the facing points with a form of ladder line suspended from stand-off platforms at top right. Duga-1 array within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
0 kommentar(er)
