Every year on October 4, our country celebrates the Day of the Russian Space Forces, it is celebrated by all active and former military personnel of the space forces, as their professional holiday. This holiday date was established by order of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 31, 2006 No. 549 "On the establishment of professional holidays and memorable days in the armed forces of the Russian Federation." The holiday was timed to the day of the launch of the first artificial earth satellite, which in 1957 discovered the chronicle of cosmonautics, including the military.
Almost 60 years ago, on October 4, 1957, the successful launch of the first artificial earth satellite (AES) took place with the direct participation of the Soviet military. The preparation for the launch, the launch itself and the control of the satellite during the orbital flight were carried out by specialists of the military formations of the Space Forces. A whole network of ground-based measuring points of the Command and Measurement Complex for Spacecraft Control was created specifically to control the world's first satellites on the territory of the USSR. The locations of these points were specially determined by the Scientific Research Institute No. 4 of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union in order to ensure work on spacecraft with high inclination angles, filming telemetric and trajectory changes, transmitting programs and commands in the maximum possible visible areas throughout the country. The same network of ground-based measuring points was used on April 12, 1961 to control the flight of the world's first manned spacecraft Vostok with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board.
Subsequently, all domestic and international space programs were carried out with the participation of military units of spacecraft control. The first manned flights, exploration of the Moon, Venus, Mars, complex experiments in open space, the launch of the unmanned reusable orbital complex Buran, control of the manned orbital station Mir, the creation of the ISS - the International Space Station - this is far from a complete list of the achievements of the Soviet and Russian cosmonautics, a significant contribution to which at various stages was made by domestic military formations for space purposes.
Russian Space Forces flag
Back in 1960, to organize the control of space activities in the USSR Ministry of Defense, the Third Directorate of the Main Directorate of Missile Weapons was created, which in 1964 was transformed into TsUKOS - the Central Directorate of Space Facilities of the Ministry of Defense and was part of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces), and in 1970 - in GUKOS - Main Directorate of Space Facilities of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1982, due to the increased volume of tasks being solved, the GUKOS and its subordinate units were withdrawn from the Strategic Missile Forces and subordinated directly to the country's Minister of Defense, the Office of the Chief of Space Facilities of the Ministry of Defense was created.
Currently, the Space Forces are a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). Despite the fact that they trace their history back to the 1950s, they appeared as a separate branch of the military relatively recently, this happened only in 2001. In connection with the growing role of space assets in the system of military and national security of the Russian Federation, by the presidential decree on the basis of the formations, formations and units of the launch and space defense (RKO) detached from the Strategic Missile Forces, on June 1, 2001, an independent branch of the military was created - the Space Forces. Russia.
To date, the space watch of the first Soviet military units for launching and controlling various spacecraft is continued by the Russian military units of the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the 15th Army of the Aerospace Forces (special purpose) as part of the Main Center for Missile Attack Warning, the Main Center for Reconnaissance of the Space Situation, the Main Test Space Center. named after German Titov. The training of professional officers for the Russian Space Forces is carried out today by the AF Mozhaisky Military Space Academy, located in St. Petersburg.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
It can be noted that today the Russian Space Forces have created and are successfully operating an effective system for the preparation, launch and control of Russian spacecraft for various purposes, radar and orbital control of missile-hazardous areas and ensuring global monitoring of the space situation. The military and civilian personnel of the Space Forces successfully cope with the solution of the tasks of using and building up the combat capabilities of missile attack warning systems, replenishment and control of the Russian orbital grouping of space systems and dual and military complexes, space control, training and education of officers for the Space Forces of our country.
Nowadays, the Russian space forces solve a wide range of tasks, the main of which are:
- monitoring space objects and identifying threats to Russia in space and from space, if necessary - countering such threats;
- the implementation of launches of various spacecraft into orbits, control of satellite systems of dual (military and civil) and military purposes in flight and the use of some of them in the interests of providing the troops (forces) of the Russian Federation with the necessary information;
- providing the top management with reliable information about the detection of ballistic missile launches and warning about a missile attack;
- maintaining in the established composition and readiness for the use of various satellite systems for dual and military purposes, means of their launch and control.
According to the official website of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2018, as part of their combat duty to ensure control of outer space, specialists of the Main Center for Reconnaissance of the Space Situation of the Space Forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out more than three thousand special works to control changes in the space situation, during which they were able to detect and to accept about 900 different space objects for escort, carried out control over the launch of more than 500 spacecraft for various purposes into orbits, ensured forecasting and control of the termination of ballistic existence of about 180 space objects, issued 10 warnings about dangerous approaches of space objects with spacecraft included in the Russian orbital constellation.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
The combat crews of the 1st State Test Cosmodrome Plesetsk in the Arkhangelsk Region carried out launches of the Soyuz-2.1b medium-class space rocket (ILV), as well as the launch of the Soyuz-2.1v light-class ILV. The Rokot ILV was also launched with spacecraft for various purposes on board, two promising Sarmat ballistic missiles were launched, as well as one test launch. At the same time, specialists of the Main Testing Space Center named after G. S. Titov provided and carried out 14 launches of various spacecraft from the Baikonur and Plesetsk cosmodromes. In 2018, the duty forces of the ground-based automated control complex of the Space Forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out more than 500 thousand sessions of controlling spacecraft from the Russian orbital group. The average daily rate of control sessions was more than 1, 6 thousand sessions.
The space forces continue to actively introduce and commission new types of weapons, military and special equipment. Radar stations of the new generation "Voronezh", belonging to the missile attack warning system, took over on alert duty in Russia. Radar data, created using the technology of high factory readiness in the Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Leningrad and Orenburg regions, as well as in the Altai, Krasnodar and Krasnoyarsk Territories, are on alert. At the same time, work continues in Russia on the creation of new radar systems for the missile attack warning system in the Murmansk region and in the Komi Republic.
As part of the program being implemented today to improve and develop the domestic space control system, the Russian Space Forces continue to work on the creation of ground-based space control systems belonging to a new generation. In total, by 2020, it is planned to deploy more than ten new radio-technical and laser-optical complexes on the territory of the Russian Federation, implementing different principles of detection and recognition of space objects. It is already known that the first laser-optical complex of the new generation is located in the Altai Territory, where it successfully performs the tasks of controlling outer space, while in the mode of experimental combat duty.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
In 2018, in order to re-equip formations and military units of the Russian Space Forces with promising weapons, about 50 different research and development projects are being carried out, aimed at creating in the coming years complexes and systems of a new generation. Also in 2018, the military units of the Main Testing Space Center received more than 15 different promising and modern measuring instruments, work on the commissioning of new equipment is actively continuing.
