About 10 km From the former nuclear chernobyl, in Ukraine, there is a Soviet military installation of which in reality we do not often hear: the Duga-3 radar. It is a radar Over the Horizon (also abbreviated Othr) whose goal was to “see” beyond the horizon to identify a possible launch of missiles by the USA on the Soviet territory. This structure, active from 1976 to 1989, is to say the least imposing, since it measures 150 meters high For 700 of width and while it was in operation he issued a characteristic repetitive noise to another frequency that earned him the nickname “Russian woodpecker “.
How the Over The Horizon radars work and what they are for
Before going into detail, it is good to do an overview to understand briefly How OTHR radars operated. Normally a radar is able to provide information on an area that does not exceed the horizon: to increase its scope it is necessary to take advantage of the ionosphere. In fact, it was discovered that certain wavelengths could be reflected by the ionosphere, radiate the target and go back following the same path. Taking advantage of this principle it was possible to reach targets up to 3000 km away. By processing the signals digitally it was possible to identify the launch of any missiles and, through the‘Doppler effectunderstanding theirs speed and towards where they were direct, allowing the chain of command to react promptly (at least in theory) to thwart this threat.
The characteristics of the Duga-3 radar
The system Duga-3 It was built outside the inhabited center of Gomel, near Chernobyl, and entered into operation for the first time in 1976. On the project we do not have a lot of information available: after the nuclear disaster the site was abandoned and all the documents relating to the project were demolished or archived in Moscow.
Having said that, we know that it was a receiver radargiven that the transmission center was approximately 60 km in the inhabited center of Lubech-1, Also abandoned today. The system understood the signs from the United States of America with the aim of promptly identifying nuclear attacks towards the Ex-Union. Only later will another system of antennas be created, similar to the first but addressed to the East.
While it was in operation, between a radio signal and the next, the Duga-3 produced a noise hearing clearly by radio amateurs, who therefore nicknamed this system “Russian Woodpecker“, Meaning what “Russian woodpecker“. In a second moment the Soviet government, despite having denied being the direct manager, modified the signal frequencies to avoid causing interference with commercial planes.
The end of Duga-3
On balance, the Duga-3 never managed to intercept any missile, given that the Cold War ended without direct attacks between the two superpowers. In addition to this, several researchers and technicians later questioned the effective effectiveness of this system. According to them, the Duga-3 in the event of an attack would not have been able to provide sufficiently precise And timely useful information. This, in part, also due to a reduced knowledge of the properties of the ionosphere.
As the nuclear disaster of the April 26, 1986 definitively put the word to this military project. All insiders were soon evacuated, abandoning this metal wall within the radioactive area. In reality, over time several workers reached the place to bring the components of greatest value back to Moscow, while a small part of these was illegally stolen in the years following abandonment.
