Duga-1 and Duga-2

Coordinates: 47°04′30″N 31°39′00″E / 47.075000°N 31.650000°E / 47.075000; 31.650000

Duga-1 and Duga-2 ("duga" means "arc") were Soviet experimental over-the-horizon radar (OTH) systems. They were developed for the Soviet ABM early-warning network. Both of these radar systems were aimed east and were fairly low power. They were predecessors of the Duga-3 or "Steel Yard" OTH system, which operated from 1976 to 1989.

Duga-1 was the first experimental system.^[1][2] It was built outside Mykolaiv in the Ukraine, and successfully detected rocket launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome, about 2,500 kilometers away.

The second prototype, Duga-2, was built on the same site. Duga-2 was able to track launches from the Far East, and from submarines in the Pacific Ocean, as the missiles flew towards Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean.

References

1. ^ John Pike. "Steel Yard OTH". GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/steel-yard.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
2. ^ A. Karpenko Nevsky Bastion (1999). ABM AND SPACE DEFENSE. No. 4. pp. 2–47.