Qabala / Gabala (click here)
[Lyaki / Mingacevir / Mingechaur]
40.870N 47.790E
Construction of the Qabala radar station started in 1978 and was completed in 1984. The station was put into operation in 1988. The station occupies an area of 210 hectares. The station's initial capacity was 50 MW, and its target capacity is 350 MW. The USSR had nine such radar stations, the Qabala station and the station at Mukachevo in Ukraine) being the last to be constructed.
Daryal installation No 754 -- the Gabelinskaya radar station -- was located at Lyaki in Azerbaijan. The Stopor installation with its' 16-story radar building is located in Gabala. The radar was intended for detection of launches from the Indian Ocean. However, the radar is unable to process the information independently, and transmits it to the Kvadrat and Shvertbot installations near Moscow. Russia will probably have to pay rent for the land where the radar is stationed.
The offer by Vladimir Putin to protect Europe from any attempt by Iran to strike any nuclear capacity is a serious one. He is taking his place among those that believe in peace and not nuclear annhilation which enhances his stand regarding de-escalation of nuclear capacity globally. I am more than pleased by this Russian proposal.
Bush on the other hand has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt his intention for MDS in Europe, especially Poland, was an overt aggressive stance against Russia. This offer by Russia has put Bush's initial plan to shame in it's sincerity of purpose. It also gives a clear indication by Russia to be a partner to Europe while placing Iran in a position to honor Non-proliferation and living only with the 'peaceful use of nuclear energy' as it's sole purpose to it's reactor.
In other words, it took Russian competency in realizing the best place for such deployment of MDS, should the system prove to provide the protection beyond what Russia already can provide for Europe.
The map above shows the extent to "The Early Warning Radar Capacity of Russia" at the location of Russian radar at Gabala in Azerbaijan.
Four of the currently operational radars can be classified as large phased-array radars, comparable in capability to their U.S. counterparts. These are two Daryal radars deployed in Pechora and Gabala, Azerbaijan, the Volga radar in Baranovichi, Belarus, and the Don-2N radar in Pushkino, which was built as part of the Moscow A-135 missile defense system.[89] The Dnepr-M/Dnestr radars are modification of the old Dnepr design known as Hen House. Because of their linear design, radars of this class cannot provide accurate elevation data.
The map shows locations of the radars and the sectors that they cover. It is usually believed that there is a gap in the radar coverage in the East, between the radars in Pechora and Michelevka. In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union attempted to build an early-warning radar in Krasnoyarsk, but it was dismantled after objections from the United Stated. Our estimates, however, demonstrate that even if the gap exists it is very small. Only an attack from a narrow range of positions against a limited set of targets would have a chance of avoiding detection by the radars in Pechora and Mishelevka. Practical importance of this gap is minimal.
ABSTRACT: The article presents an overview of the history of development and the current status of the Soviet and Russian early-warning system, which was built to provide the Soviet strategic forces with information about a missile attack in an event of a nuclear conflict with the United States. Two main components of this system are considered--the network of early-warning radars and the space-based early-warning system, which includes satellites on highly-elliptical and geosynchronous orbits. The system appears to be capable of detecting a massive attack, but cannot be relied upon to detect individual missile launches.
The Russian radar at Gabala in Azerbaijan has not been without it's criticism. The site is stated to be an ecological disaster. The high levels of electrical power required by this facility needed high capacity power lines. The power lines were so intense in it's capacity that an entire hectare of land was completely burned. There was an issue with 'freon' which was used as a cooling agent for the radar station, but, a Russia commission was sent to investigate the site. As typical with much Russian engineering, the 'capacity' of any entity of design is far more than actually needed as a measure of effectiveness over frugalness, but, in a communist state frugality isn't necessarily a focus. Here is a link:
Ecological Genocide
Baku Zerkalo 6 Jun 98
p14 N. Majidova report
A "top secret" stamp was put on the results of the research we are going to talk about below by the former Soviet KGB and later by Russia's Federal Security Service. Today, we have the opportunity to become acquainted with this document, which was certified by members of a government commission and a group of Azerbaijani experts. We are talking about the Russian military installation in Gabala District in Azerbaijan -- the radar station....
A "top secret" stamp was put on the results of the research we are going to talk about below by the former Soviet KGB and later by Russia's Federal Security Service. Today, we have the opportunity to become acquainted with this document, which was certified by members of a government commission and a group of Azerbaijani experts. We are talking about the Russian military installation in Gabala District in Azerbaijan -- the radar station....
The radar station covers 210 hectares, plus 30 hectares of land which has turned into a scrap heap. The projected power of the station is 350 MW but it is impossible to use it to capacity because when using even 300 MW in 1984 one hectare of territory was completely burned. When installing high voltage lines, over 400 hectares of forest were destroyed. Apart from that, as a result of the station's operation, thousands of priceless trees have been dying after drying up because of lack of moisture. The amount of water in the soil started going down catastrophically when 16 deep artesian wells were drilled. They are necessary to ensure a constant [water] supply to the cooling system of the equipment of the radar station which is operating at a high temperature. Just one hour of operations at the station requires 300-400 cubic meters of water. After that, this used water is dumped on the mountain slope where the radar station is situated without chemical and biological cleansing and goes into the rivers below. [passage omitted: various species of fish used to live in the rivers before. The local population has to use this water for drinking. Freon is being used in the station]
Twenty-five tonnes of freon are used to cool the station's equipment just once. This gas destroys the ozone layer 500-600 times more than others. [passage omitted: At the beginning of the 1990s, the district executive authorities sounded the alarm and two years later parliament set up a special commission]
It was found out that the average electric field intensity exceeds the admissable norm by three or five times in the territory of the radar station and in the neighboring setlements. This was a result of safety norms being neglected before and transmitters with a capacity of more than 2 MW being built close to the setllements rather than 60-65 km away, as was planned in the technical documentation. [passage omitted: The soil in the area is infected with chemicals. Birth, death, and sickness rate figures.
Here again, Russia is proving to be way ahead of the curve. The West is always curious to the diplomacy of Russia, but, they little understand the 'capacity' of this communist country to monitor the world and act in prudent measure to insure peace over war. The fact remains that in dealing with Iran or Pakistan for that matter, Russia was never worried about the European threat as their 'early warning system' already addressed much of the European continent. Yet, Bush over reached again in an attempt to aggressively place a yet to be worthy MDS at the Russian border, a direct threat to a good friend. This clearly demonstrates, the Neocon directive of oil lust over profound alliance with countries solidly proven to be friends in Non-Proliferation.
Europe should consider this Russian proposal a profound sign of it's desire to be allies, as if history could ever paint a different picture, and a trading partner with ample energy resources for any European need. This is the time for Europe to extend a handshake to open negotiations of trade with Russia and embrace a proven ally as one of it's own. I have never known a Russian city, such as St. Petersburg, to be more European in it's culture and it would be more than appropriate for the EU and Russia to begin open cooperation in light of this generocity.
Also at question is any second thoughts by NATO of Russian intent in being a willing partner to strategic needs of the region. I congratulate Vladimir Putin in this bold move to continue on a path of Non-Proliferation. There is more hope today for the world than there was yesterday. Iran needs to 'measure' it's step in regard to moving beyond peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Thank you, Vladimir, it's the most brazen move toward global stability, peace and non-proliferation noted in the last decade.
