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Russia and Early Warning Systems

The Soviet early warning satellite program did not officially begin until the early 1970's under the leadership of Academician Anatoli Savin (now the General Designer and General Director of the Kometa Central Scientific Production Association). The Scientific Supervisor of the project was M. M. Miroshnikov of the Vavilov State Optics Institute, which led to the program sometimes being referred to as Project M (for Miroshnikov). Without extensive Earth observational data in the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum of interest, Soviet designers selected for evaluation three basic types of sensors which might be capable of detecting and tracking a ballistic missile during powered flight. Vidicon tubes sensitive to the near infrared and the ultraviolet were tested for the first-generation system, and infrared solid-state detectors with a mechanical scanner were viewed as a logical improvement for a second-generation spacecraft (Reference 86).

An inability to detect missile engine plumes against the natural background of the Earth led to a decision which directly affected the design of the satellite and the orbital characteristics of the subsequent constellation. Sensors would be positioned to concentrate surveillance on a region just above the Earth's limb in the vicinity of anticipated ballistic missile launches, i.e., American and Chinese ICBM silos. This requirement in turn made highly elliptical, inclined orbits (of the Molniya class) more attractive than geostationary orbits, which the USSR had yet to exploit.



REFERENCES

86. B. Kagan, Soviet ABM Early Warning System (Satellite-based Project M), Delphic Associates, Inc., 1991.



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