Report from the arsenal of the NZ Strategic Missile Forces
This military facility, hidden in the deep forests of Nizhny Novgorod, is not only not indicated on the maps - it is not mentioned in any official source. On the territory of 1 thousand hectares, everything is stored that together and separately may be needed in case of a nuclear missile war.
From Nizhny Novgorod to the sign "Dalnee Konstantinovo-5" - 70 km. But in fact, such a village does not exist in nature. True, in the nearest village of Surovatiha, which gave the same name to the top-secret arsenal of the Strategic Missile Forces, everyone knows what this is about. Almost half of the local residents are civilian personnel hired by the military unit for strategic needs. But to find out something interesting about the features of the work will not work - all questions are forwarded to people in uniform. And entry to a strictly guarded object only with special passes - and even those are issued in Moscow long before the visit - as a visa, only to a non-existent state.
Wolfdog eaten by mice
The Arsenal of the Strategic Missile Forces began to be created in 54 - five years before the appearance of the troops themselves. The factories had already begun to produce missile weapons, and for the time being, all this had to be stored somewhere. They chose the most remote places: for hundreds of kilometers around - impenetrable forests and swamps. In just a year, the site was drained and leveled for the world's largest storage of intercontinental ballistic missiles and military equipment.
“We didn't even know where we were being sent,” says the veteran of the Strategic Missile Forces Valery Ageev, who served in the arsenal for almost a quarter of a century. - The address "Moscow - 400" was in the documents of graduates of military universities. And someone generally went to serve at the "auto-tractor enterprise".
- Was there a lot of work in those years?
- Hundreds of missiles have passed through the arsenal - from the very first, copies of the German V-2 to heavy intercontinental ones. The secrecy was terrible! We worked for days. But mostly at night. Unloading, loading, sending. From here the famous royal "sevens" R-7 were transported to Baikonur. Yuri Gagarin went into space on one of these. A narrow-gauge track was made here earlier for small rockets, and when the "sevens" arrived, they had to widen the storage gates and lay a wide track. During the Cuban missile crisis, of course, I had to get very nervous.
- What, were you seriously preparing for a nuclear war?
- We, of course, understood what it was. Probably like no one else. But what a thing - if there were real military actions - we would be the first to come under attack. After all, there are no bunkers, dungeons and equipped shelters here. We are at a glance. And all the time at gunpoint.
The first commander of the arsenal was a general with the characteristic surname Volkodav. Veterans still remember him with grateful trepidation. But he did not last long. The reasons for his dismissal have been legendary for many years. The truth turned out to be much smaller than the most grandiose speculations about the intrigues of enemies. The sabotage happened where it was not expected.
During the preparation of one of the combat missiles to be sent to the troops, the work cables gnawed through the mice, incapacitating the weapon. The wolfhound was fired, and mousetraps with pieces of bacon have since been in every corner. Anti-mouse protection - abbreviated as AMZ - must be checked by inspections.
IF TOMORROW IS WAR
The area where hangars and storage facilities are located is surrounded by a triple security cordon around the perimeter. The system has been repeatedly modernized and improved. And now sensors, sensors, video surveillance are everywhere. Moreover, the cameras react to any movement in the territory - starting to record what is happening online as you move. A high voltage current is connected to the fence. The most frequent troublemakers are foxes and moose. Attempts to lay new paths each time end, as the military say, with "barbecue". But there were cases with human casualties. Several years ago, builders from neighboring republics worked here for hire. Two decided not to suffer a long detour to the gate - they decided to simply jump over a fence that looks like a chain-link netting. Then, when the forensic experts had already arrived, there was, in fact, nothing to photograph - all that remained of the poor fellows was a piece of a skull and a fragment of a shoe. Burned down at work. Down to the ground.
It will take several days to get around all the objects. And there is no free space in any storage. Some of the premises resemble car repair shops. On the shelves and shelves - from floor to ceiling, brand new parts, carefully wrapped in parchment. Each has its own number and markings. Next door is a car wash. Khaki trucks with the inscription "NZ" are being poured with hoses and twisting something under the hood all the time. In fact, these are combat alert vehicles. When mobile launchers with a rocket leave for the launch site, they are accompanied by a whole column - communications, security, command post. Everything is on wheels.
In the nuclear missile shield, every bolt is on special account. In case of war, here you can assemble more than one launcher or mobile complex and send it on the first order to the launch site. This means that everything should be on the move.
Including rocket trains. Trains literally girdle the area like giant headless snakes. It looks like ordinary freight trains and trailed passenger cars. Lieutenant Dmitry Stasenkin invites us to one of these.
“All our trains are disguised as civilians. And the convoy accompanying the rocket to the troops is traveling in such a passenger. Here we have a kitchen, here a shower, weapons are stored in these boxes.
- And how long can you hold out on such a train?
- I had a business trip - we drove Topol to the Plesetsk cosmodrome - 80 days. This is along with the road and work.
Strategic train drivers never know what they are driving. And the escort officers do not know where they are going. At the prescribed stops, the envelopes are opened, where the next destination is written. This is somewhat reminiscent of a "quest" or "lightning" - only the rules are written in the bowels of the General Staff and no one fully knows how it will end. After all, an order for a combat, and not a training launch, can come at any moment.
Now the arsenal contains only RS-12M - Topol ICBMs. Each has a separate apartment disguised as forest hills. To get to the rocket itself, you first need to walk a hundred meters through the underground tunnel and, before crossing the threshold of the storage facility, fulfill one prerequisite.
- I ask you to fulfill the safety requirement, - says the chief of the arsenal, Colonel Georgy Radulov, - put your hand to this metal plate to remove the static charge.
Each Topol is stored under special conditions, like in an incubator. Constant temperature plus 27, humidity is controlled by special devices. The military does not say how many such "Topols" are in our strategic bins.
“By agreement with the United States, the number of missiles is a strictly defined figure,” says Colonel Radulov. - American inspectors constantly come to us. A month ago, it was in this room that they worked.
Americans, of course, are not allowed everywhere. For example, the stands where ICBMs are tested are so secret that a certain group of military and industry representatives are working with them with special approvals. If something is wrong, this is a whole emergency. The defective part is urgently changed and errors are corrected - everything must be constantly ready for battle. Nothing lies here as a dead weight. Once every few years, a rocket stored at the arsenal is selectively launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. If the launch is successful, our ICBMs will have their service life extended.
And there have never been any failures in history. From time to time, the entire personnel of the arsenal plays a simulated war. After all, the main purpose is to move to the place "X" on the first order within a limited time frame. I did not meet the educational standard, consider, as in that anecdote about "staff reduction", this territory is no longer on the map.
WASTE TO INCOME
In the 90s, an impressive part of the arsenal was converted into a base for the elimination of the most powerful weapon on Earth - heavy intercontinental missiles RS-20, nicknamed in the West "Satan", in our country - "Voyevoda". For rocket scientists, this is the most painful topic. The devilish devil carries up to 10 nuclear warheads, flies to almost anywhere on the planet, and even goes into space. She is still in the ranks of the Strategic Missile Forces. How many of them have now stood still in the mines, waiting in the wings, is also a military secret. But according to the treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms by the efforts of the Americans, "Satan" was recorded as number one. They did not skimp, generously paying for the work on her "burial" - they sponsored the purchase of the necessary equipment and from time to time send senators to oversee the disposal process.
A missile is considered destroyed if it is freed from fuel residues, removed from the transport and launch container and cut into pieces. The missiles come from military units already "dry", but, as a rule, from 10 to 200 liters remains. The fuel is neutralized, the rocket is freed from cables, control units and other things and cut. Recently, the disposal base was reassigned to Roskosmos. But the rockets got a gold mine in the literal sense.
- One rocket produces about 4 kg of pure gold, more than 100 kg of silver.
The head of the dismantling department, Aleksey Adyarov, is holding a microcircuit from the Satan control unit. On a thin plate in several rows, like a honeycomb in a hive, there are gold and platinum plates. How much to hang in grams is a strategic question. Everything that is extracted from the rocket filling is defensive recyclable material. The most valuable are rare earth and precious metals. Manually using pliers and tongs, they will pull everything out, count to the last golden speck of dust. And then they will give it to the State Fund. Something will be melted down into ingots, and something will go to new warheads.
“Last year, our arsenal earned 15 million rubles,” says Alexey Adyarov. - Part of this money, of course, went to us too - there is where to invest.
Where the earned money will go can be seen with the naked eye. In a military town, time seems to have stopped behind barbed wire somewhere in the early 60s. On the central street, wooden two-story barrack-type buildings with boarded up windows, collapsed roofs and walls will still not survive. Inhabitants of emergency housing were relocated, but it is expensive to destroy to the ground and build new houses. But the salary earned will definitely not be reflected on the officer's salary.
“We do not have any bonus payments,” says the commander of the arsenal, Colonel Georgy Radulov. - The famous "400th order" of the Minister of Defense does not concern us in any way. For example, before the New Year I received 26 thousand rubles. They promised, of course, more from the new year. Let's see what happens.
But the residents of Surovatiha got recyclable materials of strategic importance for free. Everyone who is here for the first time is surprised by the architectural features of the village. Sometimes it even begins to seem that this is a large-scale art project dedicated to the Cold War era. It's just that designers are unlikely to be able to repeat the idea at some international biennale. After all, the most popular material here is fragments of launch silos and special containers of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
- Isn't it scary? - I ask a local resident Nikolai Goryachev, who is picking something at the foot of the fountain made from the lining of the missile shaft. The remains of the frame from the "Satan" shell went to the design of a private farm. The whole creation resembles either a nuclear mushroom, or a radar that detects rocket launches from somewhere in space. The alien theme is enhanced by the blinking poisonous blue-green of the spider web of the New Year's garland.
“No, it's not scary,” he replies, without even asking what it is about. - We have already been checked here many times. They come with instruments, everyone measures something.
- Do you know what the fountain is made of?
- Of course - this is from the RS-20 rocket. Yes, we have a lot of things here. My neighbor over there has made a whole garage out of a single body from a missile container.
The garage is truly impressive - a huge stainless steel barrel structure. And next to it is a summer shower - also clearly from something strategically intercontinental. Local craftsmen make gates, cellars, pools from missile waste. Pensioner Mina Moiseeva has a shed made of a piece of "satanic" sheathing in her garden. Inside is a woodpile, a table and a circular saw. The woman says that she found valuable material in a nearby forest 10 years ago.
- The material is durable, does not rust - does not flow. They drove a tractor - then my husband was still alive - she was very heavy - well, they picked up and drove.
- Not toxic?
- No. We were checked from Nizhny Novgorod.
Back in Surovatikha, the decommissioned parts were adapted for stable reception of a TV signal and designer chimneys. And the former nose of the rocket went to the fungus for the playground. The formidable weapon is still on the defensive. Now - from rain and snow.
