Russian Military Satellites: Development and Launches

Russia resumes launch of Proton-M carrier rocket
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-09/21/c_131152145.htm


Said to be a new type of data relay satellite - "Garpun"

Garpun (Russian: Гарпун, meaning Harpoon), GRAU index 14F136, is a new Russian Military communications satellite for operative relaying of large volumes of digital information between optical and radio survelliance satellites moving in low orbits and a ground receiving stations in real time. Garpun will replace older Potok (Geyzer) satellites which were a part of the Global Space Command and Relay System.

More info, including video of preparation and launch:   http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=24475

Popovkin: new satellites will detect launches of cruise missiles

"First of all, 100 new units, which must be received in the armed forces - is, first of all, a new quality of information. New quality of intelligence information over a broadband noise immunity and stable relationship. This detection system not only launches of ballistic missiles and cruise , operational and tactical missiles. This mapping system is to bind high-precision weapons, "- said Popovkin.

Russia to Launch 100 Military Satellites in Next Decade

Russia is planning to launch at least 100 military satellites in the next 10 years to boost its reconnaissance and missile detection capabilities, head of Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Vladimir Popovkin said on Wednesday.

“The new 100 satellites will provide us with better quality intelligence, faster and more reliable communications,” Popovkin said in an interview with Vesti 24 television.


“This will also enable us to detect the launches and track not only ballistic, but also cruise missiles, theater and tactical missiles,” Popovkin said.


The expansion of the military satellite cluster will also boost global positioning and mapping capabilities of the Russian military, which is necessary to guide advanced high-precision weapons being developed in Russia.

The ability to track cruise missile and TBM at theatre level is very interesting.

Hopefully it also has ability to provide Fire Control data to ABM system as American future Satellite will be getting.

100 is a big number , considering currently they have 60 odd satellites which are military and dual purpose.

GLONASS will take 28 odd satellites in orbit , the rest 70 satellites will be communication and reconnance (C4ISR ) , Early Warning , EO/SAR satellites and special one like Naval ELINT/Submarine Detection etc

I hope they realise that protection against anti-satellite system , robotic sats , laser that US will deploy early on during conflict are taken care off

This is significant. But I wonder, if subs become more detectable, how should they be used in the future? Build smaller ones? Stealthier ones? Hidden ones? Or rely on them less? Both in the nuclear and non-nuclear theatre.

Russian Military Satellite to Splash Down in Pacific

A defunct Russian military communication satellite, Molniya-1-89, is expected to fall Saturday morning in the Pacific Ocean, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.

“Fragments of the Molniya satellite that do not burn up in the upper atmosphere may reach the earth’s surface on Saturday, April 7,” he said.

The satellite is expected to fall in the Pacific at 63°S 158°E, he added.

The 1.6-ton satellite is currently at 2,378 km above earth’s surface and is continually monitored by Space Defense Force specialists.

It was launched in August 1996 from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia.

Molniya-1T series satellites were replaced by the Meridian-series in 2006.


http://www.en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120406/172658328.html


Russian Military Satellite Falls in Pacific


Fragments of a defunct Russian military communication satellite, Molniya-1-89, fell into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday night, a source from the space agency said.

“According to preliminary data, fragments of the Molniya satellite that did not burn up in the upper atmosphere reached the earth’s surface on Saturday, April 7 at 3.17 am Moscow time [00:17 GMT] and fell into the Pacific Ocean,” he said.

According to data provided by the U.S. Strategic Command, fragments of Molniya-1-89 satellite had to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at 4.16 am Moscow time [01:00 GMT] (plus/minus 3 hours). According to the time, the satellite fell in the Pacific at 23.5°S 205.3°E. However, the time range of six hours indicates that the fragments could fall very far from this area.

Russian military communication satellite Molniya-1-89 was launched in August 1996 from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia.

Molniya-1T series satellites were replaced by the Meridian-series in 2006.

http://www.en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120407/172676728.html

Russia Launches Military Satellite

Russia’s Space Forces launched on Thursday a Soyuz-U carrier rocket with a Cosmos-series military satellite, SF spokesman Col. Alexey Zolotukhin said.

The rocket was launched from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia.

“The launch has been carried out to expand the cluster of Russian military satellites in orbit,” Zolotukhin said.

The official did not provide details on the specific nature of the spacecraft but according to NASAspaceflight.com it could be a Kobalt-M spy satellite with advanced reconnaissance and terrain mapping capabilities.

In this capacity it will join Russia's Oko (Eye) orbital missile early warning network, which consists of about 70 satellites.

The Soyuz-U rocket is designed to orbit Soyuz and Progress manned and cargo spacecraft, as well as special-purpose satellites such as Cosmos, Resurs-F, Foton and Bion.

http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120517/173515051.html

Nice start of the year

Three military communication satellites are in orbit


On January 15, 2013 at 20:25 MSK (16:35 UTC) the Space Forces conducted a successful launch of a Rockot space launcher with Briz-KM booster stage from the launch pad No. 3 of the launch complex No. 133 of the Plesetsk test site. The rocket successfully delivered to orbit three military communication satellites of the Rodnik type.

The satellites received designations Cosmos-2482, Cosmos-2483, and Cosmos-2484 and are likely to get NORAD numbers from 39057 to 39059 and international designations 2013-01A, 2013-01B, and 2013-01C (this will be updated as the information becomes available). Satellites of this type are normally deployed in nearly circular orbits with altitude of about 1500 km, inclination of 82.5 degrees, and orbital period of about 116 minutes.

Rodnik is a successor of Strela-3 communication satellites. it is sometimes referred to as Strela-3M. The first launch of a Rodnik took place in December 2005.

http://russianforces.org/blog/2013/01/three_military_communication_s.shtml

PLESETSK, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - A Soyuz-2.1B carrier rocket orbited a military satellite on Friday, the defense ministry’s spokesman in charge of Russia's Aerospace Defense Forces said.

The rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk launch site in Russia’s north at 22:37 Moscow time on Friday.

"The spacecraft separated from the third stage of the rocket as scheduled,” Col. Dmitry Zenin said.

According to previous reports, the satellite is the second in the new Persona series of electro-optical reconnaissance satellites based on the Resurs DK remote sensing satellite.

The first Persona satellite (Kosmos 2441) was launched onto a sun synchronous orbit in July 2008 but reportedly malfunctioned in February 2009 due to a failure in electronic components.

Russia operates a network of about 60-70 military reconnaissance satellites, featuring updated imaging technology and an extended lifetime of up to seven years, according to open sources.

http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130607/181566973.html

Russia launches first Kondor satellite


On June 27, 2013 the Space and Air Defense Forces carried out a successful launch of a Strela space launcher from the silo launch site No. 175 of the Baykonur space launch site. The launch took place at 20:53 MSK (16:53 UTC) (according to one report - at 22:58 Astana time or 16:58 UTC). The satellite that the rocket successfully delivered into orbit is a Kondor imaging satellite.

The satellite was registered by NORAD as an object 39194, it received international designation 2013-032A. The Russian designation is not known yet. According to the NORAD data, the satellite is deployed in an orbit with perigee of 454 km, apogee of 545 km, and inclination of 74.9 degrees. The orbital period of the satellite is 94.6 min.

The Strela launcher is a converted UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missile

LINK

I read Kondor had 1 m resolution and what they launched was a Radar Satellite , I wonder what good is 1 m resolution is at the age when most commercial sats have this.

Resours is not a military sat but civilian one.

Persona is a important development and its mentioned to have sub meter resolution.

Austin wrote:Resours is not a military sat but civilian one.

Dual use - military also uses Resurs.

Among users of the satellite, TsSKB Progress listed following institutions:

Ministry of Natural Resources, MPR;
Ministry of Emergency Situations, MChS;
Ministry of Transportation, Mintrans;
Ministry of Agriculture, Rosselkhoz;
Ministry of Fishing, Rosrybolovstvo;
Ministry of Meteorology, Rosgidromet;
"Other" domestic customers, which, obviously implies the Ministry of Defense;
Foreign customers.

LINK

Whats wrong with 1m Kondor - enough to hunt surface ships

Isnt Kondor the satellite that was suppose to guide Granit supersonic missile , atleast i remember reading it some time back.

One thing i realised that Russian satellite have shapes that are not seen say in US or Western satellite as also say Indian satellite that are infulenced by western design.

It shows Russian development are very independent and design are based on their experience and so goes for their rocket.

Pretty much like animals in Australian continent have developed independently compared to other continents so their creatures are odd types atleast some of them  

The radar imaging version of the Kondor satellite.

A Kondor radar imaging satellite of the Russian Defense Ministry launched with a Strela rocket, a conversion from the Soviet RS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, from the Baikonur space center has reached the target orbit, a Baikonur source said. ...
Kondor, which is weighs about 1 ton, has a service life of five years, and can transmit images with a resolution of about one meter to the Earth from an altitude of about 500 kilometers.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Kondor_radar_imaging_satellite_reaches_target_orbit_999.html

Interesting, so:

- 2013 = 10 military satellites (5 launched and 5 more will be by the end of this year)
- 2014 = 6 military satellites planed 


Russia Plans to Launch 11 Military Satellites By 2015

Three military satellites expected tomorow morning - hope it all goes well 

Russia Set to Launch 3 Military Satellites

And success .... three military satelites are in orbit and we are now waiting the last three 

3 Russian Military Satellites Put Into Orbit

Rockot launches three communication satellites

 cool 



They did it after all .... no delay, just launch       

Russia’s new carrier-rocket Soyuz-2.1v to blast off at 10 am GMT

and within an hour or few ... three more satellites placed in orbit .... after all Russian military set a task to place 6 military satellites in orbit by the end of 2013 

and thiese thee are the last ones (so mission accomplished as planned for 2013) - congrats to Russia !!!     

Soyuz-2.1v rocket places satellites into interim orbit - Russian Defense Ministry

Success   

Rocket "Soyuz-2.1a" military satellite was successfully launched from Plesetsk