Not long before the first flight of a human into the space there had
happened one event in the Soviet Union being of nearly adequate
significance. It is an event that is worth being remembered. On March 4,
1961 the first successful A system testing was conducted. A system was a
complex designed to fight with ballistic missiles of a potential
antagonist. The complex was developed under G.Kisunko, the
Designer-in-Chief. A B-1000 anti-missile created by P.Gushchin
intercepted succeNot long before the first flight of a human into the space there had
happened one event in the Soviet Union being of nearly adequate
significance. It is an event that is worth being remembered. On March 4,
1961 the first successful A system testing was conducted. A system was a
complex designed to fight with ballistic missiles of a potential
antagonist. The complex was developed under G.Kisunko, the
Designer-in-Chief. A B-1000 anti-missile created by P.Gushchin
intercepted successfully an R-12 ballistic missile launched at the
firing ground of Kapustin Yar.
On March 3, 2001 there was a ceremony devoted to the celebration of the
event. The scientific and technical conference was held in Prioziorsk, the
place of the Sary-Shagan proving ground heardquarters disposition. Among
the participants of the conference there were Lieutenant-General Nicolai
Perevozchikov (the head of the Kapustin Yar proving ground),
representatives of the military industry complex, officers and veterans
taking part in anti-missile trials. Major-General Vilor Matlashov, the
head of the Sary-Shagan proving ground, mentioned that the successful
trials conducted 40 years ago allowed the military system development of
ssfully an R-12 ballistic missile launched at the
firing ground of Kapustin Yar.
On March 3, 2001 there was a ceremony devoted to the celebration of the
event. The scientific and technical conference was held in Prioziorsk, the
place of the Sary-Shagan proving ground heardquarters disposition. Among
the participants of the conference there were Lieutenant-General Nicolai
Perevozchikov (the head of the Kapustin Yar proving ground),
representatives of the military industry complex, officers and veterans
taking part in anti-missile trials. Major-General Vilor Matlashov, the
head of the Sary-Shagan proving ground, mentioned that the successful
trials conducted 40 years ago allowed the military system development of
anti-missile defence to get initiated.
The best way to tell about the event happened is citing a ciphered
message sent, on the day of the trial, to the First Secretary of the
Communist
Party of those times, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR
N.S.Khrushchiov (the quotation is taken from "The Secret Zone: the
Designer-in-Chief's Confession" by G.Kisunko, Moscow, 1996).
Ciphered Message No..., March 4, 1961.
Moscow Time ...H...M. Top secret. Particular significance.
Moscow, Presidium of the Central Committee of the
C.P.S.U., to Comrade Khrushchiov N.S.
It is reported that on March 4, 1961 at Moscow time ...H...M an R-12
ballistic missile was launched in A firing ground region (the aiming point
being T2). A missile launched from the Central State firing ground of the
Ministry of Defence was supplied with a 500 kg dummy steel plate
equivalent to a regular military missile in its weight. The purpose was to
test A system experimental complex assigned for anti-missile defence.
Having risen over the radiohorizon, the A system detected the target at
the distance 1500 km. Using Dunai-2 radiolocator data, the central
computer was constructing and refining steadily the target trajectory, was
producing target directions to be transferred onto the precise pointing
radiolocators. After the compiter having calculated and produced the
starting turn angles and the launch moment, the B-1000 anti-missile was
launched by the computer order from launching installation No.1. The
anti-missile flight was proceeding in a normal way, the missile being
directed on the target according to the algorithm. At the height 25 km
the ground computer ordered the fighting high-explosive
fragmentation part of the missile to be blown up, and the head part of the
practice that the ballistic missile head part was demonstrated to have
been hitted, on its flight trajectory, by anti-missile defence means. The
A system trials are under way according to the schedule."
Space News from Alexander Zhelezniakov
Translated by Nataliya Lipunova
