In order to ensure the safety of air, land and sea transport, as well as to solve a number of special tasks on the basis of government decrees, a long-range radio navigation support system (LRNO) was created in the Soviet Union.
DRNO is designed to create conditions for the combat use of aviation in theaters of military operations, operational areas and in military-geographical areas, as well as air navigation when performing all types of flights.
The main tasks of the DRNO are:
ensuring the solution of combat missions by aviation in the tactical, operational and strategic depth of the enemy;
ensuring the solution of combat training tasks by aviation formations, formations and units;
ensuring flights of aircraft along optimal routes, over non-orientated terrain, waters of the seas and oceans;
ensuring the safety of aircraft flights.
The use of long-range radio navigation devices ensures the solution of the following tasks by the aircraft of the Armed Forces:
the use of aviation weapons;
landing;
aerial reconnaissance;
overcoming the enemy's air defense zone;
interaction with ground forces and naval forces.
At present, the main means of the DRNO of the aviation of the RF Armed Forces are radio technical systems for long-range navigation (RSDN). RSDN are designed to determine the location of mobile objects at any time of the day or year with unlimited bandwidth in a given coverage area.
The high efficiency of these systems is confirmed by more than 30 years of experience in their operation, including in the conditions of local armed conflicts in Afghanistan and the North Caucasus, where, in the conditions of mountainous and unoriented terrain, the RSDN were often the only means of correcting flight and navigation systems for solving problems air navigation and combat use.
All types of the RF Armed Forces are consumers of the RSDN. In addition to the Ministry of Defense, the consumers of the navigation information generated by the RSDN are the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Border Service, and the Ministry of Transport of Russia. In addition, the DRN stations operate in the State system of uniform time and reference frequencies.
The structure of the RSDN ground station includes:
control and synchronization equipment;
a radio transmitting device with a power of 0.65-3.0 million watts (per pulse);
general industrial equipment (autonomous diesel power plant with a capacity of 600-1000 kW, air conditioning, communications, etc.);
high precision uniform time service center - SEV VT. It is equipped with a complex of equipment that creates, stores and transmits time seconds to a transmitting device for broadcasting. The basis of CEB VT is the atomic frequency standard, which generates highly stable electromagnetic oscillations with a relative instability of 1x10-12. Timekeepers are formed in time sequences: seconds, minutes. five minutes, etc. The time stamps of the station are "tied" to the national time scale. These signals are used when launching spacecraft, in navigation, geology, geodesy, etc.
Currently, the following long-range navigation radio systems have been deployed and are in operation:
1. Phase RSDN-20 "Route".
2. Systems RSDN "Chaika":
- European RSDN-3/10;
- Far Eastern RSDN-4;
- North RSDN-5.
3. Mobile systems RSDN-10 (North Caucasian, South Ural, Transbaikal, Far Eastern).
The first radio technical system for long-distance navigation, on the territory of the former USSR, RSDN-3/10, was created after the modernization of the Meridian and Normal RNSs. It was commissioned with the Air Force in the early 70s of the last century.
The RSDN-3/10 includes 5 long-distance radio navigation (DRN) stations: three stations are located on the territory of the Russian Federation (the settlement of Karachev, the settlement of Petrozavodsk, the settlement of Syzran), one station in the territory of Belarus (Slonim settlement) and one station on the territory of Ukraine (Simferopol settlement).
After the collapse of the USSR, RSDN-3/10 operates in accordance with the intergovernmental agreement on long-range radio navigation support in the Commonwealth of Independent States of March 12, 1993. According to Article 2 of this Agreement, its participants recognized it necessary to preserve the radio navigation systems operating on their territory, as well as the existing procedure for their operation.
The analogue of domestic RSDN (Chaika) abroad are the radio navigation systems (RNS) Loran-C (USA).
Early 90s the last century was marked by the rapid development of satellite navigation systems (SNS). The Global Positioning System (GPS Navstar) was created in the USA. In the Soviet Union, a global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) called "Hurricane" was widely developed. SNS were distinguished by high accuracy in determining the coordinates of moving objects (tens, and in some cases, units of meters), creating a global radio navigation field, and the ability to obtain three-dimensional coordinates on board a moving object. The RSDN parameters were more modest: the accuracy was 0, 2 -2, 0 km, they had a limited working area. For example, the working area of the European RSDN-3/10: the water area of the Barents Sea - the Black Sea and the Ural Mountains - Germany. The SNS, thanks to its unique parameters, created the impression that the time for ground-based RSDN has passed. However, after the tests of SNS for noise immunity and stability of operation, disappointing results were obtained. The fact is that in determining the location of objects in the SNS, noise-like signals are used. It is not very difficult to suppress such a signal in the aircraft coverage area. It seemed that the way out is in the integrated use of these two types of navigation: European experts followed this path. We have created the control and corrective technology "Eurofix" - a system of joint use of RSDN and SNS. We go our own way. And so, in the area of Taimylyr settlement, a unique structure, transmitting antenna 460 m high, was destroyed. Almost Ostankino tower in the Arctic Circle. The hardware and equipment are simply abandoned. 175.2 million (Soviet) rubles were spent on the creation of the exploded object.
As it became known, the bowels of the Arctic Ocean are fraught with huge reserves of natural resources. One can foresee the struggle of the circumpolar states (and not only them) for these riches. It is clear that navigation aids in this region will play a decisive role in the future. Therefore, the means of radio navigation support in the Arctic region must be preserved.
