Sary Shagan

Sary Shagan
Near Priozersk in Kazakhstan
Coordinates 46°23′N 72°52′E / 46.383°N 72.867°E
Type Anti-ballistic missile testing range
Site information
Operator Russia
Status active
Site history
In use 1958 - current

Sary Shagan (Russian: Сары-Шаган; Kazakh: Сарышаған) is an anti-ballistic missile testing range located in Kazakhstan at coordinates 46°23′N 72°52′E / 46.383°N 72.867°E.

On 17 August 1956 the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union authorized plans for an experimental facility for missile defense located at Sary Shagan, on the west bank of Lake Balkhash. The first missile launched from the facility[1] was a V-1000 on 16 October 1958, but the facilities for full scale testing were not ready until 1961.[2] Sary Shagan remains in use to this day, with the latest known launch at 4 March 2014.[3] Sary Shagan was a closed city until 2005.

The length of the site is 480 km.[4]

The Sary Shagan range was the intended landing site for the sample return canister of the Russian Phobos Grunt mission.

Other notable military complexes on site

In the 1970s the Vympel OKB built the Terra-3 laser testing centre at Sary Shagan.

Radar site

The Sary Shagan site has hosted a number of radar prototypes such as the Don-2NP. Also there is Balkhash-9 radar station a few km away which started in the 1960s and still functions as part of the Russian missile warning network.

References in Fiction

The Sary Shagan site is one of the USSR ABM/SDI sites featured in the Tom Clancy novel The Cardinal of the Kremlin.

The site is mentioned in the manga 'Battle Angel Alita' in reference to a supposedly historical weapon, a 'scalar field' device called the 'Sarishagan tiger'.

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia Astronautica - "Sary Shagan"
  2. ↑ FAS.org - "Sary Shagan General Overview"
  3. ↑ - ruvr.ru - "Russia’s space forces launch missile shield rocket"
  4. ↑ James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (n.d.). "Sary-Shagan". Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). Retrieved 2012-01-08.