Russia’s Okno and Krona space surveillance systems are profiled in a newly updated open-source documentary collection (pdf) by former CIA analyst Allen Thomson.
The precise location of the Okno facility, which is in Tajikistan, has not been publicly identified.
But last year, observed Mr. Thomson, a new “Krona-N radar site near Nakhodka was found in Google Earth (not by me) and the head of the Russian Space Forces says it’s going to be put into operation starting this year.”
“Like Krona Classic in the Caucasus, this is going to be an imaging radar,” he said. “Together with the 3-meter adaptive optics telescope being built in Siberia, the Krona radars will give Russia an excellent, all-weather capability to get high-resolution images of foreign satellites of interest. The new National Reconnaissance Office spysats scheduled for launch in the next few years seem likely to be among those.”
The new documentary collection is mostly in Russian, with selected translations and some nice images. See “Sourcebook on the Okno and Krona Space Surveillance Sites” by Allen Thomson.
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