Pivan-1 (Russian: Пивань-1) is a military townlet near Komsomolsk-na-Amur in Khabarovsk Krai in the Russian Far East which is the location of the eastern control centre for Russia's Oko satellites.[3] These give early warning of ballistic missile launches, mainly from the continental United States. The site is part of the Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning and information from here is processed at the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces centre in Solnechnogorsk[3][4] and could be used, together with early warning radar such as the Voronezh, for launch on warning[5] or the A-135 anti-ballistic missile system. A similar facility is located at Serpukhov-15 near Moscow.

Pivan-1
Пивань-1
Part of Main Centre for Missile Attack Warning
Pivan-1 is located in Khabarovsk Krai
Pivan-1
Pivan-1
Coordinates50°20′57″N 137°11′22″E / 50.349167°N 137.189444°E / 50.349167; 137.189444
TypeSatellite ground station
Height45m[1]
Site information
Open to
the public
no
Conditionoperational[1]
Site history
Built1981 (1981)
Garrison information
Garrison1127th Independent Radio Technical Unit[2]

The name Pivan-1 is a code name following the practice established to name closed cities and military facilities. It is named after the nearest settlement, Pivan.

Oko consists of two types of early warning satellites - US-K and US-KMO. The older US-K satellites are in highly elliptical molniya orbits which give them coverage of the United States at certain times during the day. For full coverage of the US missile grounds four US-K satellites need to be operational and the system can have up to nine of them in orbit at once. [6]: 44  The US-KMO satellites are geosynchronous satellites providing continuous coverage. In total, 101 satellites have been launched.[7][8][9]

The Oko system was placed on combat duty in 1982.[6] The last US-KMO satellite (Kosmos 2479) was launched on 30 March 2012 [10] and the last US-K satellite (Kosmos 2469) on 30 September 2010.[11] They are being replaced by a new system called EKS.[12]: 7 

Facility

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The western Oko control centre at Serpukhov-15 was put on combat duty in 1982 [6]: 48 .[4] The eastern one started to be built in 1982, started testing in 1991, went onto experimental combat duty in 2002 and full combat duty on 30 April 2012.[1]

It consists of seven 25 metres (82 ft) antennas,[13] each under a 45 metres (148 ft) high dome [1] and weighing 300 tonnes (330 tons).[13] There are also facilities for data processing.[6]: 40 

As the eastern control centre it can communicate with geosynchronous satellites in four of the seven reserved locations, those looking over the Pacific. However, there had never been satellites in the three positions furthest east until Kosmos 2479 was moved to 166°E in October 2012.[14][15] The others, looking over the Atlantic, need to be controlled from the western centre.[6]

Location Name[6]: 51  Longitude [6]: 51  Control Centre [6]: 52 
Prognoz-1 24°W Serpukhov-15
Prognoz-2 12°E Serpukhov-15
Prognoz-3 35°E Serpukhov-15
Prognoz-4 80°E Pivan-1/Serpukhov-15
Prognoz-5 130°E Pivan-1
Prognoz-6 166°E Pivan-1
Prognoz-7 159°W Pivan-1
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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Potekhin, Anna (2012-01-16). Восточный резидент [Eastern Resident] (in Russian). Красная звезда [Krasnaya Zvezda]. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  2. ^ Holm, Michael (2011). "1127th independent Radio-Technical Unit". Soviet Armed Forces 1945-1991. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  3. ^ a b Podvig, Pavel (2012-01-30). "Early Warning". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  4. ^ a b Topol, Sergey; Safranov, Ivan (11 May 2001). "У России проблемы с ПРО: Она сгорела" [Russia has an ABM problem: it burnt down]. Kommersant. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  5. ^ Podvig, Pavel (1994). "The Operational Status of the Russian Space-Based Early Warning System" (PDF). Science and Global Security. 4 (3): 363–384. Bibcode:1994S&GS....4..363P. doi:10.1080/08929889408426407. ISSN 0892-9882.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Podvig, Pavel (2002). "History and the Current Status of the Russian Early-Warning System" (PDF). Science and Global Security. 10 (1): 21–60. Bibcode:2002S&GS...10...21P. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.692.6127. doi:10.1080/08929880212328. ISSN 0892-9882. S2CID 122901563. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-15.
  7. ^ Krebs, Gunter. "US-KMO (71Kh6)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  8. ^ Krebs, Gunter. "US-KS (74Kh6)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  9. ^ Krebs, Gunter. "US-K (73D6)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  10. ^ Pavel, Podvig (2012-03-30). "Cosmos-2479 - new geostationary early warning satellite". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  11. ^ Pavel, Podvig (2010-09-30). "Cosmos-2469 might be the last HEO early-warning satellite". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  12. ^ Podvig, Pavel; Zuang, Hui (2008). Russian and Chinese Responses to US Military Plans in Space (PDF). Cambridge, MA: American Academy of Arts and Sciences. ISBN 978-0-87724-068-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  13. ^ a b ___lin___ (2012-05-26). Широка страна моя родная... [Wide is my native land...] (in Russian). Live Journal. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  14. ^ Pavel, Podvig (2012-05-31). "An early-warning satellite command center opens up". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  15. ^ Pavel, Podvig (2012-11-13). "Changes in Russia's early warning satellite constellation". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Retrieved 2012-11-28.