Russian Military Satellites: Development and Launches

Russia Puts Military Satellite Into Orbit on December 13

According to Russia's Defense Ministry, a military satellite launched on the Proton-M carrier rocket has been put into orbit.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian Proton-M carrier rocket has successfully put into orbit a military satellite following the launch from the Baikonur space center, the Defense Ministry press service said Sunday.

"The satellite, launched in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry at 03:19 a.m. [Moscow time, 00:19 GMT] on December 13 on the Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center, is operated by the Main Test Space Center named after German Titov of the Aerospace Forces," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the launch of the carrier rocket and putting the satellite into orbit were carried out on schedule.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20151213/1031686696/russia-military-satellite-orbit.html#ixzz3uDXs3DXJ

Project Canada wrote:

George1 wrote:Launch of Russian military satellite postponed following loss of Kanopus-ST

thats too bad, Russia should intensify their counterintelligence work especially in the space industry as incidents like this could potentially be caused by blatant sabotage from NATO agents :/

The launch was made 3 days later friend and was successful. 2nd Garpun satellite is in space now

this as 2 months ago, not a new one

2nd Bars-M secret satellite reported ready for launch tomorrow.

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/bars-m.html#2

Russian military satellite successfully delivered into orbit — defense ministry

More:
http://tass.ru/en/science/864805

A new Russian space system, for optical-electronic intelligence

According to Ivan Safronov in his article "On the enemy will look with a two-meter objectivity," published by the newspaper "Kommersant", in 2019 the Russian Defense Ministry plans to deploy optical-electronic reconnaissance system, which will become the basis for the latest spacecraft of "Hrazdan". They will come to replace the satellites such as "Persona" to which the military had high hopes in the early 2000s, but were able to get only a few years ago.

The fact that the Russian Space Forces, and the Samara Space-Rocket Center "Progress" are consulting on the technical design of the type 14F156 satellites "Hrazdan", "Y" spoke two-informed source in the industry, and confirmed the source "b" in the military. Information in the public domain about the devices of this type is extremely small. For example, "14F156 product" appears in the updated yesterday term purchases of goods, works and services on the official website of "progress". We also know that in July 2015 the company ordered a study whose objective was to identify and import a previous electronic-component base used in the onboard equipment 14F156 products and components subject to "export restrictions". Get the official information from the "Progress" yesterday failed, a spokesman for the Space Forces comment "b" was unavailable.



http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2039553.html

Russian defense ministry satellite put into operational orbit

The Soyuz-2.1v carrier rocket with the defense ministry’s satellite was launched from platform No43 of the Plesetsk space center’s launching pad No4 on Friday, June 23

More:
http://tass.com/science/953146

The russian Nivelir-ZU satellite is satellite of unknown purpose launched on the third flight of the Soyuz-2-1v Volga launch vehicle.

It has been speculated, that it could be a geodesy payload.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nivelir-zu.htm

St. Petersburg design bureau to assemble reconnaissance satellite

MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg-based design bureau Arsenal will assemble a modernized reconnaissance imagery satellite for Russia’s Defense Ministry this year, the design bureau said in its annual report on Monday.

"In 2015-2016, the production volume declined as the output of item 11F695 [Kobalt] was terminated but in 2017 a new product will be delivered," the report says.

According to the data posted on the Arsenal design bureau’s website, the company is currently assembling two types of satellites: the Lotos-S and the Pion-NKS. The first type of the satellites is designed to determine the coordinates of radio-technical means of ground-based facilities and exercise control in various radiofrequency bands of the ionosphere and in the near-Earth space. The second type is designed for radar and radio-technical surveillance of ground objectives and control in various radiofrequency bands in the ionosphere and in the near-Earth space.

The last Kobalt-M film-return reconnaissance satellite came back to the Earth in 2015.

The Kobalt-M is a series of specialized reconnaissance imagery satellites developed by the Samara-based Progress Rocket and Space Center and produced by the Arsenal enterprise. The first modernized satellite was launched in the fall of 2004. The last Kobalt-M satellite became the tenth representative of this series.


More:
http://tass.com/defense/953395

More on the communications satellite system "Blagovest"

As our blog reported earlier, on August 17, 2017, the Proton-M booster rocket with the Breeze-M upper stage successfully launched into orbit the first "heavy" military communications satellite 14F149 for the Blagovest (Blagovest) No. 11L, the open designation "Kosmos-2520"). In the interests of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The newspaper "Kommersant" in the material of Alexandra Djordjevic and Ivan Safronov "The grouping of communications has received good news.The new telecommunication satellite of the Ministry of Defense has been launched," publishes some details about the Blagovest program.



Yesterday, the Ministry of Defense launched the telecommunication apparatus of the Blagovest project into orbit. Satellites of this type, ordered even under former defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov, were not only to increase the throughput of military communications channels, but also to provide commercial communications services. With Sergey Shoigu, the last idea was abandoned. Despite the successfully launched Blagovest, the system can not fully function until it is difficult to develop its ground segment.

A satellite of military purpose was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome with the aid of the Proton-M launch vehicle, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Without naming a specific type of apparatus, the department specified that the withdrawal of the payload was in normal mode. "A stable telemetry connection is established and maintained with the space vehicle, the onboard systems of the spacecraft function normally." After taking over, the satellite was assigned the serial number "Kosmos-2520".

According to independent experts, yesterday the military put the first of the four telecommunication satellites Blagovest (product 14F149) into orbit. They are developed by order of the military in the JSC "Information Satellite Systems named after Reshetnev" (ISS). The satellite is designed for high-speed data transmission, TV and radio programs, providing telephone and video conferencing, access to the global computer network. The device is built on the platform "Express-2000", its work in orbit should be at least 15 years. Initially it was planned to launch Blagovest at the beginning of summer, but then due to the recall of more than 70 engines of the second and third stages of the "Proton" to the Voronezh Mechanical Plant, the terms shifted to August.

The history of this project began with the former defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov. According to the idea of ​​the management of the department, the four Blagovest vehicles were to become the basis for a multifunctional telecommunications system. Some of its resources were supposed to be used for solving purely defense tasks (closed satellite communication, etc.), and part for commercial use. According to Kommersant's information, it was planned to create a company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense for this purpose, whose main goal would be to extract profit by selling the free resources of the satellite group. In November 2012, Mr. Serdyukov was dismissed, and Sergei Shoigu, who succeeded him in commercializing resources, reacted coolly, recalls the military source of Kommersant. Taking into account the underloading of the capacities of the already functioning apparatus, the project "Blagovest" could be closed, but in the end it remained with the reservation that all the capabilities of these satellites would be directed to in-house use.

The military maintains that the apparatus taken for control functions properly. This is also confirmed by a source in the space industry, specifying that in the near future the satellite will have to undergo a cycle of flight design tests.

At the same time, according to Kommersant's information, the system lacks ground-based equipment for full-scale operation, which is being developed by the Moscow Radio Engineering Research Institute. According to the Kommersant source in the space industry, this work is "being done with great difficulty" and there is no understanding yet when the tangible result will appear. Earlier TASS reported that the "Blagovest" system should be deployed before the end of 2020, which "will increase the capacity of the communication channels of the Ministry of Defense." However, without a land segment, this task will not be achieved.

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2793947.html

Russian Defense Ministry orbits satellite for inspecting military space apparatus

The ministry described the apparatus as a space platform capable of carrying different payloads

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. A smaller space apparatus has separated from the military satellite launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on June 23, the Defense Ministry’s press-service has said.

"A smaller space apparatus separated from that platform today for examining the condition of a Russian satellite. In the long term, a research experiment will be carried out to use the space apparatus for examining the outward appearance of that satellite," the statement reads.

A space apparatus developed for the Russian Defense Ministry was put in space from the Plesetsk space site on June 23, 2017.

The ministry described the apparatus as a space platform capable of carrying different payloads.


More:
http://tass.com/defense/961614

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. Russia’s Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company has received an order for the production of four Meridian-M military satellites as an upgraded version of Meridian spacecraft series, Company CEO Nikolai Testoyedov told TASS .

More:
http://tass.com/science/973830

Cosmos-2524 - an electronic reconnaissance satellite - is in orbit

On December 2, 2017 at 13:43 MSK (10:43 UTC) the Air and Space Forces conducted a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b launcher from the Plesetsk test site. The satellite delivered into orbit received official designation Cosmos-2524.

The satellite received international designation 2017-076A and was registered as object 43032 by NORAD. It is reported to be a Lotos-S1 electronic reconnaissance satellite, which became part of the Liana system. Two previous satellites, Cosmos-2455 (Lotos-S) and Cosmos-2502 (Lotos-S1), were launched in November 2009 and in December 2014 respectively.

It should be noted that the most recent military satellite, launched in September 2017, was designated Cosmos-2522. Cosmos-2523 is probably a small satellite associated with the Cosmos-2519 mission. In August 2017, the ministry of defense announced that Cosmos-2519 released a satellite-inspector.

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russia's Aerospace Force has successfully launched the Soyuz-2.1V rocket from the Plesetsk space center in the northern Arkhangelsk region, the Defense Ministry said.

"A crew of the Space Troops of the Aerospace Force of the Russian Federation successfully launched the Soyuz-2.1V light launch vehicle at 20:38 Moscow Standard Time [17:38 UTC] that is carrying into space a satellite, which will serve the interests of the Defense Ministry," the report said.

More:
http://tass.com/science/996819

The russian EMKA satellite is satellite of unknown purpose launched on the Soyuz-2-1v Volga launch vehicle.

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/emka.htm


So military satellite of unknown purpose was launched