Russia opposed the increase in the rent for the radar from the current $7.5 million to $300 million per year, which Azerbaijan insisted on; a more advanced radar of the Voronezh-DM type in Armavir is already being tested
Gabala radar station Photo: AzerTAc/ITAR-TASS
Gabala radar station of the "Daryal" type 5N79 (RO 7, object 754) is one of the most important elements of the warning system about missile attack(SPRN) of the former USSR, and now Russia. It is located in the area of the Zaragan settlement of the Gabala region of Azerbaijan. The radar station is located at an altitude of 680 meters above sea level, above all settlements located in the scanning radiation zone.
Intended for:
Detection of ballistic missiles on flight paths within the radar coverage areas;
Tracking and measuring the coordinates of detected targets and jammers;
Calculation of movement parameters of tracked targets according to radar measurements;
Goal type definitions;
Issuance of information about the target and interference environment in automatic mode.
The composition of the radar:
Command and measurement center;
Transmitting radio engineering center;
Repair and verification base;
Node of communication and information transfer.
Lead developer JSC RTI named after A.L. Mints, Moscow. Put into operation in 1983.
The radar controlled the territories of Iran, Turkey, China, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Australia, as well as most of the African countries, the islands of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
A distinctive feature of the station is the ability not only to detect a missile launch in a record short time, but also to track the missile trajectory from the first seconds of launch and transmit data in advance for interception at the desired point.
Radar type "Daryal" has a phased antenna array of the receiving center 100x100 m (almost 4000 vibrator crosses) and a PAR aperture of the transmitting center measuring 40x40 m (1260 powerful transmitting replaceable modules with an output pulse power of each 300 kW), provides target detection with an EPR of the order of 0.1 m at a distance up to 6000 km in the field of view of 110 degrees in azimuth. It is distinguished by increased accuracy of measuring parameters, high speed and throughput, noise immunity, the ability to detect and simultaneously track about 100 objects.
During the Iran-Iraq war, the radar detected 139 live launches of Iraqi Scud missiles.
The object "Daryal" is a 17-storey building with a height of 87 m. Its creators were awarded the USSR State Prize.
Headcount service personnel- about 900 military personnel and more than 200 civilian specialists (an intergovernmental agreement sets a limit of 1.5 thousand people).
After Azerbaijan gained independence and the radar station became its property, Russia continued to use the station. In accordance with a bilateral agreement signed in 2002, the Gabala radar station has the status of an information and analytical center and is the property of Azerbaijan. Leased to Russia for a period of 10 years. The annual rent under the 2002 agreement is $7 million. The agreement expires on December 24, 2012.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on negotiations with Azerbaijan to extend the lease of the Gabala radar station until 2025. According to media reports, Azerbaijan intends to sharply increase the price for the lease of the radar. Azerbaijan's conditions were an increase in the personnel of the Azerbaijani military at the radar station and the transfer to local residents of the food, trade and other services in the military camp at the station.
Russia was interested in maintaining the previous cost of the lease, but at the same time wanted to drastically reduce the territories occupied by the station. The station was to be rebuilt. With its new look, a large amount of communication was not required. By 2020, it was planned to build a new generation radar station (of the Voronezh VP type) in its place.
Russia expected to complete the negotiations before June 2012, since the new agreement must be concluded no later than six months before the expiration of the old agreement.
On December 10, 2012, the Russian side suspended the operation of the Gabala radar station.
Expert opinion:
The Gabala radar station was important to Russia until it got a much more modern radar station near Armavir. Such an opinion in a conversation with a correspondent IA REGNUM expressed the deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis. According to him, today Russia does not need the Gabala radar station at all.
“I myself am categorically against the continuation of the operation of this senseless object. This would be a gross mistake, ”the expert said. According to the interlocutor, the new radar station significantly outperforms the Gabala one in terms of functionality and efficiency, and its more northerly location plays no (or almost no) role.
Answering the question why, in this case, Russia was conducting protracted and difficult negotiations with Azerbaijan regarding the extension of the lease of the Gabala radar station, Khramchikhin suggested that the loss of Gabala forced the Armavir radar station to be put into operation in a forced mode, which the Russian side would prefer to avoid . “In addition, perhaps Russia wanted to have two operating stations for some time. Let's not forget that the Gabala radar station also made it possible to bargain with the Americans,” said the deputy director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis.
As for the possible impact of the decision to suspend the operation of the Gabala radar station on Russian-Azerbaijani relations, Khramchikhin noted that this is now a problem for Azerbaijan, since it was precisely because of his position that the lease was not extended. “Azerbaijan considered the Gabala radar station a lever of influence on Russia and decided to use it. It was his mistake, since there is no longer a lever, ”the expert concluded.
Finally a more or less sensible explanation
Gabala radar - officially called the radar station "Daryal", deployed in the village of Gabala (350 km west of Baku), not far from Ganja. Data on the number of personnel - fluctuate (from 1400 to 2000 people). It is subordinated to the Space Forces of the Russian Federation and is designed to detect ballistic and cruise missiles on flight paths, track and measure the coordinates of detected targets and jammers, as well as calculate the movement parameters of tracked targets and determine their type.
The range of the radar is up to 6-7 thousand km.
Ground-based radars with greater target detection range, to the best of our knowledge, do not exist.
The decision to build the station was made in 1972 by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU - in connection with the US plans to deploy a base nuclear submarines in the Indian Ocean (Diego Garcia Island).
In 1976 construction began. In 1983, the first radar units began to be launched. In 1984, the unit took up experimental duty. In February 1985, the station went on combat duty.
The Gabala station is facing outwards (the territory of North Africa, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan, as well as a significant part of the Indian Ocean). The territory of Russia is not monitored by the station (again, we recall that the turning of the viewing sector of such radars outside when they are located near the borders of the country is a condition of the ABM Treaty).
The Gabala station is the only one that has experience in combat launches. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, the radar recorded all 302 cruise missile launches without exception from American bombers, surface ships and nuclear submarines, including 15 cases of missing missiles on the trajectory and 30 cases of missiles being hit by Iraqi air defenses. The radar was also actively used in the post-Soviet period - during US air operations against Iraq ("Desert Fox", 1998) and the Afghan Taliban ("Strong Freedom", 2001). The technical resource of the radar makes it possible to ensure its continuous operation until 2012.
The agreement on the Russian lease of the radar station was signed by the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan on January 25, 2002 and has already been ratified by the parliaments of both countries. According to the agreement, the Gabala radar station is the property of Azerbaijan. Russia leases the radar until 2012, and without the consent of Baku, Moscow has no right to conclude any agreements with a third party on the use of the radar. The station has the status of an information and analytical center.
So, the Gabala radar station is a Daryal-type station with a very high target detection radius (6-7 thousand km). This is one of the specification parameters. The other has to do with the relationship between radar and warfare strategy.
What is the specificity of the old and new technological (and hence military, and hence political) era? The previous era - also known as the "era of mutually assured destruction" - is the entire aggregate system in which Gabala is inscribed.
The specificity of this consistency lies in the fact that Gabala (like the entire missile attack early warning system - SPRN) was "sharpened" for instant detection missile attack on the USSR, guaranteeing the leadership of the USSR the availability of the necessary time to make a decision on a retaliatory nuclear missile strike.
The leadership, having decided on this strike, could thereby ensure the following.
First, guaranteed retribution. Which was of decisive importance.
Secondly, the suppression of certain radar capabilities that turn American missiles into blind ones already in the middle of a flight. This second possibility had no absolute significance. But it was also important.
We could not protect the entire territory of the USSR from nuclear missiles if they were already launched. The Americans could not protect themselves from our missiles either. That was the old era.
At that time, the missile defense system existed only around Moscow. And in this form it exists to this day. At that time, their missile defense system also protected only the area where their key strategic potential was based - silo ICBMs in North Dakota.
Gabala was focused on a nuclear attack by a super-powerful adversary (not some kind of Iran, but the United States, who decided to wage a nuclear war to completely destroy the USSR). And on the "strike of retaliation." All this is reflected in the technical solution. And all this is very different from what the Americans are now "kneading".
The Americans (at least declaratively) want to protect themselves from individual "adventurous" missiles, and not from a massive strike to destroy the United States. Is such a desire only a declaration (behind which is the desire to be safe from Russian missiles that can be fired after the Americans launch the first strike), or is it a real strategy? Let those who are supposed to answer. In the official statements we have already cited by officials (that is, those who are "supposed to"), it was said that the Americans want to protect themselves from our "retaliation strike", and not Europe from Iran. Now officials may say otherwise. But this, as they say, is a matter of life.
Already today, the Americans want to chase every single missile that is aimed at the point they want to protect. They want to protect themselves. But precisely all of its territory. They say that they also want to protect Europe, NATO allies, all friendly countries and all progressive humanity.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov spent the beginning of last week in Azerbaijan. The topic of his meetings and conversations with the head of the military department of this Transcaucasian republic, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev, with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, as well as trips to the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus Range, to the village of Gabala near Mingechevir, were the conditions for extending the terms of the lease by the domestic military department of the local radar station of the Missile Attack Warning System (EWS radar).
The station "Daryal" or Gabala radar, also known as "Laki-2", was built in these places in 1985. It was and is part of the domestic Missile Attack Warning System. The Daryal-type radar has a phased antenna array of the receiving center 100 x 100 m (almost 4000 cross-vibrators) and a PAR aperture of the transmitting center measuring 40 x 40 m (1260 powerful transmitting replaceable modules with an output pulse power of each 300 kW), provides target detection with an RCS of the order of 0.1 m at a distance of up to 6000 km in a viewing sector of 110 degrees in azimuth.
The Gabala radar station is distinguished by increased accuracy in measuring parameters, high speed and throughput, noise immunity, the ability to detect and simultaneously track about 100 objects. It operates in the meter wavelength range and, according to some publications, controls the air and outer space over Turkey, Iraq, Iran, other countries of the Middle East and even India, as well as most of the Indian Ocean, including the northern coast of Australia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Daryal radar became the property of Azerbaijan and, after lengthy negotiations with Baku, was leased by the government of the republic in 2002 to the Space Forces of the Russian Federation for 10 years with an annual payment of $7 million. About 1,400 of our officers and civilian specialists are currently working there.
Moreover, in addition to the rent, Russia pays off the energy system of Azerbaijan for the used electricity and provides jobs for local citizens, thanks to which the mountain village of Gabala is today one of the most comfortable in the country.
At the end of 2012, the lease expires, and Azerbaijan is not opposed to signing a new agreement, but with a higher price for the services provided. The figure sounds like 15 million dollars. As the reasons for the increase in the cost of rent, such as receiving compensation for material damage, suffered by Baku due to the impossibility of developing tourism in this mountainous part of the country, the increase in the cost of electricity and even ... environmental problems that the high-frequency radio emission of the station brings.
We will not comment on these claims. Let's just say that the early warning system has become a "golden hook" for our southern neighbors, on which you can draw a variety of preferences from the Russian military. For example, play the transfer card "Daryal" on loan to the USA. It's nothing, as they understand knowledgeable people that if the Russians leave here, they will take with them the most valuable thing that is here, - software the operation of the radar, without which it is just a pile of concrete and metal.
The Americans understand this too. Moreover, if they come to Gabala (let's imagine this for a moment purely virtual), then Tehran, Azerbaijan's neighbor, which has almost twice as many Azerbaijanis as in the republic itself, will hardly like it. And spoiling relations with Iran in this way is more expensive for Baku. But on the other hand, local authorities, playing the Gabala card, raise their geopolitical image in the eyes of the local population.
That's anti-aircraft missile system Baku received S-300PMU from Russia, not least due to the fact that it has Gabala. And, despite the formidable, frankly, very cocky, if not aggressive statements against Yerevan, Moscow's military ally, Anatoly Serdyukov nevertheless flew in to negotiate the extension of the lease of the Daryal early warning system. He even proposes to increase the quota for the training of Azerbaijani military personnel in Russian military universities (I wonder, in the same ones where Armenian military personnel study?), He promises to send a group of experts so that they can agree and resolve all the issues raised by the Azerbaijani side during the negotiations within two weeks along Gabala.
No, we are not against the fact that the Azerbaijani political and military leadership, like the leadership of any self-respecting state, defends its national interests in negotiations with the Russian military, seeks and finds its own benefits from military-technical cooperation with Moscow. In their place, as they say, everyone would have done the same.
We are not opposed to the fact that in the course of negotiations with Baku on Gabala, the Russian side made certain concessions to its partners. After all, we are close and very close neighbors who have lived in the same "communal apartment" for more than two centuries. You could say almost like brothers. But still, still, still...
We must also protect our national interests, our geopolitical, economic and military benefits in the same way as our allies and partners in the CIS do. Russia should not be a cash cow. For each concession, for each preference to an ally and partner, we must receive an adequate concession and preference so that our cooperation does not look like a donor on the one hand and a dependency on the other. Someone really needs help, and someone can pay with cash or provide geopolitical support.
In the end, we need Gabala, including because of the ongoing dispute-dialogue with the US and NATO over European missile defense. But it is worth remembering that near Armavir, a new early warning radar of high factory readiness "Voronezh-M" has already been put on experimental combat duty. And it may happen as it happened with the Ukrainian early warning stations in Mukachevo and Nikolaev, near Sevastopol - the orange government bargained with Moscow for a long time about the cost of their lease, even turned the radar into objects of the Ukrainian space agency, offered the US and NATO to take them on their own. ... It didn't work out. It turned out - neither for myself, nor for people. Now no stations, no millions of dollars to the state treasury for their rent and operation.
To whom this is a lesson, let everyone think for himself.
/Based on materials nvo.ng.ru And arms-expo.ru /
Employees of the radar station (RLS) "Daryal", located in Azerbaijan's Gabala, which is being transferred to rotational service, wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin asking him to protect their rights. The document was signed by several dozen wives of Russian officers, who from August 1, by decision of the leadership, must remain on the street - none of the officers in Russia has either permanent or official housing.
“We are not demanding anything impossible, we are just looking for a human relationship, a clear explanation of what is happening and what will happen to our families,” the women wrote to Putin.
According to the text of the letter, a copy of which is at the disposal of Izvestia, before August 1, officers and sergeants who serve at the station must independently take their wives and children to Russia. Those who cannot do this are asked to write reports for transfer to another place of service or to leave the army.
“An explanation of how to organize the move has not been received by the unit up to and including today,” the letter says. On the other hand, work was organized to eliminate the kindergarten and the Russian sector at the local school, where the children of officers studied, and their wives worked as teachers, the wives of officers say.
The letter specifically emphasizes that it is not clear where to put the children in those families where both parents are military personnel. In addition, the parents of the wives of some Russian officers do not live in Russia, but in other CIS countries.
The Gabala radar "Daryal" provides Russia with control over the airspace of the entire Middle East, China, India and the Indian Ocean up to the northern coast of Australia. The station's lease expires on December 24.
The leadership of the Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO), to which the station in Gabala is subordinate, explained to Izvestia that shift method was chosen for the sake of economy.
- In order to somehow reduce the cost of rent, it was proposed to minimize the number of leased objects and refuse to use the military camp. It was proposed to resettle the officers in the housing stock on the territory of the station itself - there are former barracks there. For a rotational method, such housing is quite suitable, - explained the interlocutor of Izvestia.
In addition, the representative of the East Kazakhstan region emphasized that the officers in Gabala "earn decently and can afford not only to move to Russia, but also to buy housing."
— The average salary of a serviceman is €4,000. The minimum salary is €2,500. For civilian specialists, it is about the same. With such an income, it is not difficult to find housing, - the representative of the command of the East Kazakhstan region is sure.
At the same time, the command units claim that they share the indignation of the officers and their wives, but they cannot do anything.
- IN staffing there will be no employees of the kindergarten, the wives of officers who worked in the Russian sector of the school as teachers, in fact, are listed in other positions, and we are forced to prohibit them from such a combination. But we are doing everything possible to help those who cannot continue to live like this leave: we give leave for 10 days “due to personal circumstances”. During this time, it is quite possible to take the family to their parents or settle down outside the military camp - for example, rent an apartment in Gabala, - the high-ranking officer of the unit explained.
He also stressed that the officers, who have nowhere to take their families, can submit a transfer report at any time, but many are kept by high salaries. However, since the beginning of the year, out of almost 200 officers, a little more than 140 have remained in the unit. At the same time, he stressed that after the transfer to the rotational method, officers without wives will be difficult to keep from drinking and debauchery.
“The family still serves as a serious deterrent against addictions,” the officer noted.
According to officers' wives, a third of the women who remained in the unit are "in a position" or take care of children 1.5-3 years old. More than 100 work for the radar station as civilian employees. Periodically, they are offered to "resign for own will", but they do not take on vacancies.
In the Russian section of the local school, 150 children studied, who, when moving, would have to be urgently placed in other schools. educational establishments. At the same time, about 20 officers with their families are “at disposal”, that is, they have already been removed from their posts and are waiting for permanent apartments in order to retire from the army.
“We believe in the effectiveness of the reforms being carried out in the army aimed at strengthening the defense capability of our state, but we believe that they should not adversely affect our families,” the officers’ wives wrote to Putin.
At the reception of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Izvestia was confirmed that the situation "causes sympathy", but explained that the minister is now on a business trip.
- April 9th, 2012 06:43 am
Original taken from korotchenko_i in Armenian alternative to the Gabala radar station - Igor Korotchenko
Armenia's radar proposal is a real alternative for Russia
The Russian Federation may start negotiations with Armenia on the construction of a radar if it fails to agree with Azerbaijan on a lease in Gabala.
Russia and Azerbaijan have been negotiating for a long time on the terms of renting a radar station in Gabala. The contract, signed in 2002, expires in December this year. In this connection, Russia is trying to negotiate a prolongation of its action. It is expected that the results of the negotiations will be announced in the summer.
Wherein Igor Korotchenko, Chief Editor magazine "National Defense", fully admits Russia's acceptance of Armenia's proposal.
“Azerbaijan, for unknown reasons, suddenly increased the rental fee for the use of the Russian station in Gabala to a large extent,” an expert told Finam FM. - Such demands from Azerbaijan are unrealistic and absolutely do not correspond to the spirit of Russian-Azerbaijani relations. In my opinion, they are not based on real financial and economic calculations. Under these conditions, Armenia's proposal may be a very real alternative.”
However, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan announced the readiness of the state to provide the territory of Armenia for the construction of a Russian radar: “I think that there may even be advantages here, since Armenia is a mountainous country. The coverage could be wider," Lenta quoted the prime minister as saying, citing Kommersant.
- March 15th, 2012 , 11:34 am
Azerbaijan's demands to increase the rent for Russia's use of the early warning radar located in Gabala by more than forty times - from 7 to 300 million dollars - surprisingly coincided with the aggravation of the situation around Syria and Iran. At the same time, negotiations between Russia and the United States on European missile defense reached an impasse - this was announced on February 29 by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was in Kaliningrad at a meeting of the Interdepartmental working group on cooperation with NATO in the field of missile defense.
And this gives reason to see in the actions of official Baku not only a crude economic interest, but also a kind of policy, and at the same time a clearly oriented one. Yes, there were experts who immediately saw only an economic component in Azerbaijan's financial claims. As if bargaining is actually going on around the distribution of certain gas flows, and Gabala itself is only a lever of pressure on Moscow in this dispute. As is known, Azerbaijan does not rule out its participation in the project of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline bypassing Russia. The "pipe" will allow transporting gas from Turkmenistan to the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is a competitor to the South Stream pipeline.
However, official Baku rejects the gas background and says that the rent should be made taking into account the real value of the radar in the Russian Aerospace Defense system. For some reason, they are sure that this value is very high. Faraj Guliyev, a member of the Milli Majlis parliamentary committee on defense and security, said that if the Gabala radar station continues to be leased to Russia, then this should be done taking into account the real price. “I think that the Azerbaijani side is completely right if, in negotiations with Russia, it sets certain conditions and asks a high price for the lease of this facility,” the parliamentarian stressed. At the same time, he said that Baku understands the need for the operation of this station as a Russian military facility in the region.
The piquancy of the situation is that Russia itself has long doubted the need to spend millions of dollars annually on renting a radar station in Gabala and millions on its maintenance.
Raising the rent to $300 million will make the operation of the radar station in Transcaucasia truly enslaving, unprofitable in all respects - economic and military.
We must remember history. Since the beginning of the 1970s, a very powerful and effective strategic missile defense system has been created in the USSR. One of its main components was to be powerful over-the-horizon radar systems, which were part of single system about an early missile attack. Huge radars were built in various parts of the USSR, which could control the aerospace at a distance of thousands of kilometers.
The place of the radar station of the "Daryal" 5N79 type on the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR in the area locality Gabala was defined at a time when the Shah's Iran was the most loyal US ally in the region. Then there was a real danger of deploying in this country - at least - American operational-tactical missiles with nuclear warheads. And the radar station in Gabala was aimed mainly at controlling the aerospace over Iran, although its capabilities allowed observation at a distance of 8,000 kilometers in the sector from Burma to Central Africa. The first stone in the foundation of the future radar station was laid in 1976 by the then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, the father of the current president of the country, Ilham Aliyev. The station was commissioned in 1985.
After the collapse of the USSR, the nationwide missile defense system began to rapidly decline. Physically preserved, but in fact, two powerful radar stations in Sevastopol and Mukachevo in Ukraine were taken out of Moscow's control. They blew up an over-the-horizon radar station in Skrunda in Latvia. In reality, Russia has lost effective control over the aerospace direction in the most missile-prone areas.
Surprisingly, in the "dashing" nineties, we quietly began work on the creation of fundamentally new radar systems for warning about a missile attack and controlling outer space. A series of new over-the-horizon radars of high factory readiness of a modular type was created. From ready-made blocks, like a Lego children's toy, it was possible to form any appearance of the radar for a specific task, increase or, conversely, reduce the energy potential and resolution of the radars. The creation of over-the-horizon radar systems, which had the code "Product 77Ya6" with different letter designations - M, DM, VP - can be considered a revolutionary breakthrough in strategic missile defense, and now - in the aerospace defense system. The West certainly did not expect such a technological breakthrough from Russia.
Modular radar stations, called "Voronezh", are being built quite quickly on pre-prepared sites the size of a football field. If the radar station in Gabala was built for almost ten years, now the station, even with the best performance can be built in two years. And in the near future, the appearance of completely unique mobile multifunctional adaptive over-the-horizon radars of the Mars type is expected. These radars can be very quickly relocated to any missile-prone direction, placed on sea vessels. "Voronezh", not inferior to stations of the "Daryal" type, consumes incomparably less electricity - only 0.7 MW. For comparison: the station in Gabala requires 50 MW, and its maintenance there really costs a lot of money.
At present, the Voronezh-M missile warning system is on combat duty. Leningrad region. Two Voronezh-DM stations are being put into operation - not far from Armavir and in the Kaliningrad region. This year, it is planned to take the Voronezh-VP radar complex into trial operation in the Irkutsk region. The construction of similar stations in the Komi Republic and in the Murmansk region should begin.
With the advent of the Mars-type radar, the problem of controlling aerospace in any part of Russia, including those close to Azerbaijan, will disappear altogether.
That is, the need for the Gabala radar station will be lost in a natural way.
Indeed, why does Russia need a radar station that controls the aerospace over Iran and is able to detect the launch of even the smallest missile from the territory of this country and flights of all types over it aircraft? Iran does not threaten us with aggression, it does not brandish a nuclear missile baton over our heads. A missile systems The United States, of course, cannot be located on the territory of this country.
The only ones who should be interested in preserving the Gabala radar station are the United States and Israel. And even then only if these countries and Russia conclude appropriate agreements on the exchange of information about a possible missile attack. Moreover, the agreements are mutually beneficial. In 2007, Russia offered the United States to jointly use the Gabala radar station and refuse to deploy elements of its missile defense system in Europe. Since the Americans are afraid of an Iranian missile strike, we were ready to give them a guarantee that the strike would not come as a surprise. As Vladimir Putin, who was then president, noted, “this station covers the entire area, which arouses suspicion among our American colleagues.”
Washington considered Moscow's proposal and refused. And now Azerbaijan's demarche only confirmed that the United States, of course, is not afraid of a missile strike from Iran.
The task of EuroPRO is completely different - total control of aerospace over the territory of the Russian Federation.
It can be assumed that the compulsion of our country to eliminate the radar station in Gabala is due to the fact that neither the United States nor Israel wants Moscow - if the "X" hour happens - in no case would know where, where and what kind of missiles are actually actually fly in this region.
That's the whole secret of the "Europroshny Open" in the Azerbaijani Gabala.
Against the backdrop of an intensifying confrontation between Moscow and the West over missile defense, Russia seems ready to lose its strategic military facility in Azerbaijan, the Gabala radar station. The press foresaw such a development of events in February.
A source close to the Ministry of Defense made it clear that the parties are unable to agree on the terms of the lease extension: Baku raised the annual fee by several dozen times - from $7 to $300 million. Moscow is outraged by this “unreasonable and deconstructive” decision and says that there is no other alternative but to leave Gabala.
The source clarified to Interfax and RIA Novosti that the proposed annual rental cost is comparable to the cost of building two new similar stations in Russia.
In addition, according to him, the Gabala radar station needs a deep modernization, which is associated with significant financial costs. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense is interested in using the station for at least 10-15 years in order to pay off the funds invested in modernization.
The demands of the Azerbaijani side, according to the source, “ do not comply with the agreements on maintaining the Russian presence at the station, reached last year at highest level between Russia and Azerbaijan". The Russian military department is perplexed and disappointed with this approach, he concluded.
What Russia is losing in Gabala
Thus, already in December, Russia may lose the Gabala radar station, which has been one of the most important elements of the anti-missile defense system since the times of the USSR. The station is designed to detect launches of land-based and sea-based ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as well as for continuous monitoring of outer space.
The system makes it possible, a few seconds after the rocket takes off, not only to detect the launch, but also to track the missile trajectory from the first seconds, to transmit data in advance for interception at the desired point.
The Gabala radar station allows monitoring air and outer space over the territory of Iran, Turkey, India, Iraq, Pakistan, partly China, as well as a number of other Asian and African countries. The station also detects launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the southern hemisphere, including from US submarine missile carriers from the Indian Ocean.
The agreement on the lease of a radar station by Russia on the territory of Azerbaijan was signed in 2002 and expires on December 24, 2012. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that it was in talks to extend the lease until 2025. At the same time, a new agreement must be concluded no later than six months before the expiration of the old agreement - it turns out that May 24 is just this period.
Russia has a unique replacement. Risk from loss in another.
The loss of the station in Azerbaijan does not threaten the security of Russia, the military assures. They expect that the new Russian radar station in Armavir will fully compensate for the loss ( Krasnodar region), which is already on experimental combat duty and will be brought up to standard and will reach the specified parameters within a year.
Moreover, experts say that the Armavir radar station will cover the southern missile-dangerous direction much better than the Gabala radar station. The station is a new generation station, its field of view is 2.5 times larger than that of the station in Gabala, the former commander of the Missile Attack Warning Army, Lieutenant General Nikolai Rodionov, explained earlier.
In addition, Voronezh-DM is a radar operating in the decimeter wavelength range, which provides more high precision parameter measurements. Such stations have a lower level of energy consumption and the amount of technological equipment.
And on Thursday, May 24, ITAR-TASS, the general designer of the Voronezh-type radar, that none of them foreign country so far there are no radar stations of the missile attack warning system comparable in terms of tactical and technical characteristics with the new Russian ones. Lieutenant-General Oleg Ostapenko, commander of the Aerospace Defense Forces of the RF Armed Forces, also considers the capabilities of the Russian military-industrial complex in this area to be higher than foreign ones.
The Russian Ministry of Defense plans, within the framework of the state armaments program, to replace all Soviet early warning radars for missile launches by 2020 with the Voronezh-DM and build several new ones, even better in terms of capabilities.
The loss of the Gabala radar station may result in other risks. In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to the United States, as an alternative to deploying US missile defense elements in the Czech Republic, the joint use of this radar. Initially, the Americans were not enthusiastic about this initiative, but this approach was later revised, and the United States said it was considering incorporating the Russian radar in Gabala into its missile defense system in Central Europe.
Thus, if Russia loses the radar station in Gabala, the Americans will be able to get it at their disposal and use it to conduct military operations against Iran. In addition, there is a possibility that this object will be transferred to the United States or Turkey.
