Museum of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces)
Continuing the topics with military-technical topics on Habré, I want to tell you about the Museum of the Strategic Missile Forces, which is located in Ukraine on the border of the Nikolaev and Kirovograd regions.
I learned about him last fall and could not deny myself the pleasure of visiting a place that had only recently been highly classified and, moreover, was one of the models of the most powerful modern weapons.
I will not fully describe the exposition, but only give the facts that I remembered and seemed interesting. A photo gallery and information on the exposition and history of the Strategic Missile Forces is available on the museum’s website .
After Ukraine had adopted a nuclear-free status, in the late nineties and the beginning of the two thousandth the rocket launchers were completely disarmed and disabled. In October 2001, the last mine installation was destroyed. In place of one of the central combat positions and a museum was created.
wikimapia
The mines are destroyed, the missiles are dismantled, but all the auxiliary equipment is in working condition and carefully preserved. By the way, most of the employees of this museum are former rocket officers who served on this or similar bases themselves. Therefore, all the information on the tour you get from eyewitnesses and participants in the events.
The museum, as I have already said, is located on the territory of the central starting position, where there was actually a command post and one launcher. There were also barracks for a small amount of security. One central position controlled approximately ten launchers, which were located several kilometers apart. On the rest of the launchers, there was no one, these were secret covert structures without obvious signs of a missile shaft. There were ten such groups of launchers around the city of Pervomaisk, which were part of the 46th rocket of the Lower Dnieper Order of the October Revolution of the Red Banner Division.
It housed the RS-22A missiles (SS-24 Scalpel).
')
The command post itself is located in a fenced area, where there were several security perimeters - a barbed wire fence, a minefield, a fence under electrical voltage. And, of course, security with small arms. It was possible to get to the command post through an underground loop - a course at a depth of 3 meters and a length of about a hundred meters.
First, you get into the room of the refrigeration unit, then along one more rubble to the mine of the command post itself. The command post itself is a vertical cylinder with a diameter of 4 meters, fixed in a mine with a depth of 45 meters. The cylinder does not touch the walls directly, but rests on special shock absorbers. This is done in order to withstand a strong fluctuation of the soil after a possible bomb strike.
The command post could operate in a fully autonomous mode for 45 days while maintaining the necessary conditions and generating electricity. The command compartment itself is located on the eleventh level - the second from the bottom. There are three officers jobs. In the twelfth compartment - a rest room. All compartments above have a technical purpose - electronic equipment and life support systems were located there.
In order to get inside it was necessary to contact the command post with a special phone and bring a special code about your admission, then enter the code combination on the massive door. After that, you get into the elevator, which falls to the twelfth level.
In the command post there are two combat posts. Starting is possible only by simultaneously turning the key and pressing a button on both posts. That is, you need the action of two people. You must first enter the launch code, which was transmitted immediately before the launch of the missiles. By the way, the notorious “red button” is gray.
The launch team could have acted in different ways - both through special radio or telephone communication channels and through a regular broadcast television channel. In general, the rocket launching routes were much more than one — from a combat post, manually, directly from a missile shaft, remotely via a radio channel or from a satellite. Next to the launcher there are conventional and satellite antennas.
The launch shaft itself is at a distance of several tens of meters from the control center shaft. The shaft from above is closed by a powerful hatch capable of opening in seconds.
The museum is constantly expanding, there are many samples of weapons and rocket technology - parts of engines, buildings. You can pat your hand with the largest ballistic missile that terrified all “probable” opponents - the RS-20A (SS-18) Satan.
I learned about him last fall and could not deny myself the pleasure of visiting a place that had only recently been highly classified and, moreover, was one of the models of the most powerful modern weapons.
I will not fully describe the exposition, but only give the facts that I remembered and seemed interesting. A photo gallery and information on the exposition and history of the Strategic Missile Forces is available on the museum’s website .
After Ukraine had adopted a nuclear-free status, in the late nineties and the beginning of the two thousandth the rocket launchers were completely disarmed and disabled. In October 2001, the last mine installation was destroyed. In place of one of the central combat positions and a museum was created.
wikimapia
The mines are destroyed, the missiles are dismantled, but all the auxiliary equipment is in working condition and carefully preserved. By the way, most of the employees of this museum are former rocket officers who served on this or similar bases themselves. Therefore, all the information on the tour you get from eyewitnesses and participants in the events.
The museum, as I have already said, is located on the territory of the central starting position, where there was actually a command post and one launcher. There were also barracks for a small amount of security. One central position controlled approximately ten launchers, which were located several kilometers apart. On the rest of the launchers, there was no one, these were secret covert structures without obvious signs of a missile shaft. There were ten such groups of launchers around the city of Pervomaisk, which were part of the 46th rocket of the Lower Dnieper Order of the October Revolution of the Red Banner Division.
It housed the RS-22A missiles (SS-24 Scalpel).
')
The command post itself is located in a fenced area, where there were several security perimeters - a barbed wire fence, a minefield, a fence under electrical voltage. And, of course, security with small arms. It was possible to get to the command post through an underground loop - a course at a depth of 3 meters and a length of about a hundred meters.
First, you get into the room of the refrigeration unit, then along one more rubble to the mine of the command post itself. The command post itself is a vertical cylinder with a diameter of 4 meters, fixed in a mine with a depth of 45 meters. The cylinder does not touch the walls directly, but rests on special shock absorbers. This is done in order to withstand a strong fluctuation of the soil after a possible bomb strike.
The command post could operate in a fully autonomous mode for 45 days while maintaining the necessary conditions and generating electricity. The command compartment itself is located on the eleventh level - the second from the bottom. There are three officers jobs. In the twelfth compartment - a rest room. All compartments above have a technical purpose - electronic equipment and life support systems were located there.
In order to get inside it was necessary to contact the command post with a special phone and bring a special code about your admission, then enter the code combination on the massive door. After that, you get into the elevator, which falls to the twelfth level.
In the command post there are two combat posts. Starting is possible only by simultaneously turning the key and pressing a button on both posts. That is, you need the action of two people. You must first enter the launch code, which was transmitted immediately before the launch of the missiles. By the way, the notorious “red button” is gray.
The launch team could have acted in different ways - both through special radio or telephone communication channels and through a regular broadcast television channel. In general, the rocket launching routes were much more than one — from a combat post, manually, directly from a missile shaft, remotely via a radio channel or from a satellite. Next to the launcher there are conventional and satellite antennas.
The launch shaft itself is at a distance of several tens of meters from the control center shaft. The shaft from above is closed by a powerful hatch capable of opening in seconds.
The museum is constantly expanding, there are many samples of weapons and rocket technology - parts of engines, buildings. You can pat your hand with the largest ballistic missile that terrified all “probable” opponents - the RS-20A (SS-18) Satan.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/87494/
All Articles