Intercept 1961: the Birth of Soviet Missile Defense Page 78

78 M. GRUNTMAN

"Intercept 1961. The Birth of Soviet Missile Defense" AIAA, 2015 p. 78

Fig. 4.10 Aerial reconnaissance photograph of southwestern Moscow showing a bend of the Moscow river around the Luzhniki sports arena (top) and the recently constructed main building of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (bottom) on the Lenin (Vorob’evy) Hills across the river. This area is at the bottom-right (southeast) corner of Fig. 4.8. The vertical camera of the U-2 aircraft (Mission 2014) obtained this photograph at 10:08 am Moscow time on 5 July 1956. The U-2 planes made their first five deep-penetration flights over the Soviet Union in early July 1956. Mission 2014 over Moscow followed Mission 2013, which had flown over Leningrad on the previous day. Then Missions 2020 (9 July), 2021 (9 July), and 2023 (10 July) covered Lithuania; Belarus; and Kiev, Odessa, and the Crimea in Ukraine. The overflights ended the “bomber gap” disagreements. Many in the United States at that time believed that the Soviet Union had been rapidly building up its fleet of Bison strategic heavy bombers. They argued for deployment of additional U.S. B-52 bombers in response. The U-2 photographs did not confirm these alarming estimates and allowed President Eisenhower to rely on accurate intelligence assessments in weapons procure- ment. Similarly, space reconnaissance Corona satellites helped later to resolve the uncer- tainty of the “missile gap.” Original photograph from the National Archives and Records Administration; photo- graph identification, interpretation, and processing by Mike Gruntman.

Later, Al’perovich corrected the text in the electronic posting (PDF file) of the book on the website of the Almaz-Antei Corporation (the successor orga- nization to KB-1): “On July 4, the Day of Independence of the USA, a U-2 airplane was sent to our airspace—the latest achievement of transoceanic

"Intercept 1961. The Birth of Soviet Missile Defense" AIAA, 2015 p. 78 Intercept 1961 The Birth of Soviet Missile Defense Mike Gruntman American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Reston, Va., 2015 ISBN 978-1-62410-349-0 (print); ISBN 978-1-62410-350-6 (.pdf – at http://arc.aiaa.org) 330 pages with 120+ figures and 200+ references Index: 950+ entries, including 150+individuals

More than 50 years ago, pioneering scientists or unknown, and contains many technical and engineers in the Soviet Union and the characteristics of early air and missile defense United States searched for a technical means systems, rarely found even in highly special- of defense against ballistic missiles. This book ized publications. The latter details are not tells the little-known story of the earliest overwhelming, and anyone interested in rock- breakthroughs which paved the way for the etry, space, and radar will navigate through emergence of a powerful missile defense the book without difficulty. complex in the Soviet Union, a major factor in Abundant literature on rocketry, ballistic mis- the Cold War. siles, satellites, and space exploration fills On March 4, 1961, a Soviet guided missile bookshelves. At the same time, very little is performed the first nonnuclear intercept of an known about missile defense and first inter- intermediate range ballistic missile (SS-4) at cepts. The book fills this gap. the Saryshagan test site in the Kazakhstan Intercept 1961 is especially relevant today as desert when it destroyed an approaching war- the United States and other countries contin- head. This spectacular and most consequen- ue facing the eternal “protect-or-avenge” di- tial achievement followed earlier intercepts by lemma when balancing retaliatory offensive the United States Army of several shorter capabilities against defensive protection. In an range missiles at White Sands. age of unstable governments, spreading The new field led to the emergence of moni- weapons of mass destruction, and radical toring space objects in orbit, ballistic missile ideologies and terrorism, this historical back- early warning, and antisatellite weapons. The ground is critical for informed policy formula- first operational Soviet missile defense system tion, threat evaluation, defense planning, and A-35 was deployed in 1970s to protect Mos- counteracting the proliferation of weapons and cow; its successor remaining active today. sensitive technologies. Intercept 1961 focuses on the events that led The book is a must read for students of histo- to the first nonnuclear intercepts of long-range ry, scientists and engineers, analysts, and ballistic missile warheads in 1961. It introduc- specialists in international relations and na- es leading participants, now largely forgotten tional security.

About the author. Dr. Mike Gruntman is professor of astronautics at the University of Southern California (USC). His life journey took him from a child growing on the Tyuratam (Baikonur) missile and space launch base during the late 1950s and early 1960s to an accomplished space physicist to the founder of a major space engineering education program, today a nationally recognized astronautical engineering de- partment at USC. Mike is actively involved in R&D programs in space science and space technology and has authored and co-authored nearly 300 publications, including Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry (AIAA, 2004), which won the International Academy of Astronautics’ award.

1/2 Intercept 1961. The Birth of Soviet Missile Defense – Table of contents

Preface Chapter 1. Introduction: Protect or Avenge Test Site “Put on the Map” Away from Public Eyes Growing Installation Geopolitical Importance Site 2 Selective Virtue of Defense Priozersk Common Sense Nuclear Explosions in Saryshagan’s Skies System A Chapter 2. Special Bureau SB-1 Chapter 7. Experimental Advanced Weapons System Concept Communist Princeling Long-Range Search Radar Dunai-2 (Hen Roost) New Special Bureau Precise Tracking and Guidance Radar RTN Kometa KS-1 (AS-1) missile Interceptor Missile Initial Guidance Radar Chapter 3. Stalin’s Order Interceptor Missile V-1000 A Summons to the Kremlin Data Transmission System Design Bureau KB-1 Central Computing Station A New “Empire” Emerges Track-While-Scan Radar Chapter 8. Intercepts Antiaircraft Missile V-300 Autonomous and System Tests The Death of Stalin Interceptor Warhead The Success on 4 March 1961 Chapter 4. Air Defense System of Moscow Tests Continue Early Warning Radars Battle Against Penetration Aids Begins Two Rings of Fire The S-25 (SA-1) Site Chapter 9. Beyond Experiments S-25 (SA-1) Operational Toward Operational Missile Defense (A-35) U-2 Aircraft over Moscow Crisis in Missile Defense Two Bears in One Lair Scientific-Industrial Association Vympel Chapter 5. Beginning of Missile Defense Firing of Grigorii Kisun’ko In Response to a New Threat A Gigantic Enterprise A Time of Changes in the Military-Industrial Antisatellite Weapons Complex Ballistic Missile Early Warning Missile Defense Challenges Soviet Princelings Meeting at TGU Weapons in Space Development Leaders Post-USSR Era Experimental System A Authorized Appendix A. First U.S. Missile Intercepts Development Team Appendix B. Acronyms and Abbreviations Chapter 6. Saryshagan Test Site Appendix C. Pronunciation Guide Desert in Kazakhstan Construction in the Desert Appendix D. List of Figures GNIIP-10 (Test Range) Appendix E. Selected Bibliography

The book has more than 120 figures, including a number of photographs never published outside Russia. Many U.S. reconnaissance photographs appear for the first time ever (in open literature). Selected bibliography includes more than 200 entries. Many referred to publications appeared in limited editions and are not widely known. The language barrier also often restricts their use. In addition, declas- sified U.S. government documents and reconnaissance imagery are not always conveniently accessible.

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