Sputnik 1
Explorer 1
Vanguard 1
The first "nonnuclear" intercept of a ballistic missile warhead by a
missile was accomplished in the Soviet Union at the Saryshagan
antiballistic missile defense test range by a team led by Grigorii V.
Kisun'ko (Kisunko) on 4 March 1961.
See M. Gruntman, Blazing the Trail, AIAA, 2004 for the historic and technological background and context.
Pages 407 and 408 from Blazing the Trail show the arrangements of this missile test.
A low-resolution photo shows the area of the Saryshagan range obtained by a KH-5 Argon mapping camera (in 1963). High-resolution photos show site 2 (obtained by Corona KH-1 in 1960) with the guidance radar and the area of long-range radars (obtained by Corona KH-4 in 1962). In a missile defense “first,” the long-range “Hen House” radar (Dunai-2) detected a Kap-Yar-launched ballistic missile R-12 (SS-4) at a distance of 975 km. Three precise guidance radars were located at the sites (circled on the map shown on page 408) forming an equilateral triangle with the side 150 km (93 miles). Each radar measured distance to the incoming ballistic missile warhead with a 5-m (16-ft) error.
The two-stage V-1000 interceptor missile developed by design bureau Fakel of Pyotr D. Grushin was launched from a site marked on the map “Launch Complex B.” The intercept with the accuracy 32 m (105 ft) was achieved at altitude 25 km (16 miles) 43.7 s after the interceptor missile launch. The interceptor was detonated 0.3 s before nominal intercept, releasing 16,000 spherical 25-g balls, each containing an explosive charge and a hard core made of carbide-tungsten-cobalt alloy. The released balls formed a uniform disk 150 m (500 ft) in diameter with high statistical probability to hit the target. On impact, the ball's explosive charge detonated and destroyed a part of the target external wall with the hard core penetrating inside and damaging the nuclear charge of the warhead.
The long-range radars similar to those first observed on the shore of Lake Balkhash were later spotted near Moscow, thus revealing deployment of the antiballistic missile defense system around the Soviet capital.