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Saryshagan missile defense test site, USSR
First ballistic missile (IRBM) intercept
Saryshagan missile defense test site, USSR
Space reconnaissance KH-7 photos of Saryshagan Missile Defense Test Site and HQ Priozersk in 1966
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First IRBM intercept on March 4, 1961
The Soviet Union accomplished the first "nonnuclear" intercept of a ballistic missile (IRBM) warhead by a missile at the Saryshagan missile defense test range in Kazakhstan on 4 March 1961. Grigorii V. Kisun'ko (Kisunko) led the team.
Pages 407 and 408 from M. Gruntman's Blazing the Trail show the arrangements of this ballistic missile interceptt.
A recently published "Intercept 1961. The Birth of Soviet Missile Defense," AIAA, 2015 details this technical achievement, describes the program development (including preceding emergence of air defense systems SA-1 and SA-2), and provides the historic and technological background and context.
Detailed table of content of Intercept 1961
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Intercept 1961: From Air Defense SA-1 to Missile Defense System A
Proceedings of the IEEE, 104, issue 4, 883-890, 2016
I. INTRODUCTION
On March 4, 1961, a Soviet guided missile intercepted and destroyed the approaching warhead of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) SS-4 (R-12) at the Saryshagan test site in the Kazakhstan desert. Several successful intercepts followed, paving the way for the emergence of a powerful political, military, scientific–technological, and industrial missile defense complex in the Soviet Union. A new chapter in the eternal competition between protecting and avenging, between the sword and the shield, has begun.
The spectacular nonnuclear destruction of a long-range ballistic missile clearly earned a place among the most important and consequential Soviet firsts — on par with the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) SS-6 (R-7) and artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and the first cosmonaut in 1961—in a rapidly advancing field of missiles and space. The intercept stood out as especially impressive because it relied on advanced electronics, sophisticated radar, high-speed communications, real-time digital computing, and precise guidance and control.
The development culminated in deployment of the operational missile defense system A-35 (early 1970s) and its successors protecting the Soviet capital Moscow. The missile defense program also led to optical and radar monitoring of orbiting space objects; early warning of ballistic missile attack by sensors on satellites and by above-the-horizon and over-the-horizon radar; penetration aids for strategic ballistic missiles; antisatellite weapons; and space-based weapon systems.
The missile defense achievement had its roots in Soviet air defense that was organizationally and technologically different and separate from the establishment building strategic ballistic missiles and satellites and launching cosmonauts. All these advances in Soviet weapons played a major role in shaping U.S. defense programs and technologies during the Cold War.
The article tells a little known story, based on a recently published book [1] and Russian literature [2], [10]–[17], of the first antiaircraft system SA-1 in the Soviet Union, the first intercept of an IRBM, and emergence of missile defense.
II. FROM ANTISHIP MISSILE TO AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM SA-1
The Man Who Shot Down a Long-Range Ballistic Missile: 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Grigorii V. Kisun'ko
69-th International Astronautical Congress, IAC-18-E4-1-08, Bremen, Germany, 2018
Abstract
In 1961, the Soviet Union demonstrated the first intercept and destruction of a warhead of a long-range ballistic missile. This consequential event led to the birth of Soviet missile defense and paved the way to fielding the operational missile defense system A-35 in 1970s and its successor A-135, protecting Moscow today. Missile defense played a prominent role in formulating policies during the Cold War. At the same time, very little is known about the pioneers who led this development. Missile defense also branched into several important technical and operational space areas such as early warning of ballistic missile attack, space situational awareness, and space and antisatellite weapons. This paper presents a story of Grigorii V. Kisun’ko, 1918–1998, an accomplished scientist and engineer who significantly contributed to design of the first Soviet antiaircraft missile system S-25 (SA-1) and then proposed and built the Experimental System A that achieved the first nonnuclear intercept of a long-range ballistic missile warhead. In 1960s and 1970s, Kisun’ko led development of the first operational missile defense system A-35. He was fired in 1975 in the internal struggle in the Soviet defense establishment. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. The life of Kisun’ko reflected a complex turbulent history of the twentieth century.
1. INTRODUCTION
In July 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev met with a group of visiting U.S. newspaper editors. “I know what antimissile systems are since we have them,” said Khrushchev with confidence and pride, “our missile, one can say, hits a fly in space” [1].
By this time the new futuristic system had intercepted and destroyed several warheads in tests. The events paved the way for emergence of a powerful political, military, scientific–technological, and industrial missile defense complex in the Soviet Union. A new important chapter in the eternal competition between protecting and avenging, between the sword and the shield, has begun.
The first operational missile defense system A-35 deployed in early 1970s, protecting the Soviet capital Moscow. Its successor A-135 stands in combat readiness today. The missile defense program also led to development of optical and radar monitoring of orbiting space objects; early warning of ballistic missile attack; and space and antisatellite weapons.
The first intercept of an approaching warhead of an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) R-12 (SS-4) took place on March 4, 1961 in the Kazakhstan desert. The spectacular nonnuclear destruction of a warhead represented an achievement on par with other important Soviet firsts of that era: demonstration of the first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 (SS-6) and launch of the artificial Earth satellite Sputnik in August and October, respectively, of 1957 and an orbital flight by the first cosmonaut in 1961. In spite of its importance, the consequential missile defense feat remained poorly known in the Soviet Union and in the world.
The first intercept stood out as especially impressive because it relied on advanced electronics, sophisticated radar, high-speed communications, and control in real time by a digital computer. The Western public and media rarely viewed these areas of military technology as being particularly strong in the Soviet Union.
A number of corporate histories and memoirs of participants of those historic events, e.g. [2-5], appeared in Russia after the collapse and disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the early 1990s. In the West, the first comprehensive book in English, crossing the language barrier, was published in the open literature in 2015 [6], followed by a short journal-article version [7]. The book [6] provides extensive references to the Russian publications.
Missile defense is a complex technical area. Policy debates on the subject and media accounts are sometimes shallow in substance and not always informed, with ideologically driven narratives common. Missile defense and global warming share the "distinction" of being perhaps the most politicized consequential areas of science and technology.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Grigorii V. Kisun’ko, an accomplished scientist and engineer who led development of early Soviet missile defense and achieved the first IRBM warhead intercept. This paper tells his story.
2. Rearmament after WWII
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