He made one and a half turns and found the enemy in orbit. The explosion - and instead of the spy satellite, 27 shapeless fragments flew. On December 3, 1971, the Soviet Union successfully tested the satellite Fighter program.
Launch of the proton-M booster with the Briz-M upper stage with the Express-80 and Express-103 telecommunications satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome
Image source: © Photo: Roscosmos Press service
Launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. First the target – then the killer: the Kosmos 459 and Kosmos 462 satellites. The interceptor was essentially a homing fragmentation mine. This was the first time in the world.
Interception on one turn
The first maneuvering spacecraft in the USSR was created in 1963. It was called "Flight-1". It was the beginning of the main project of the Soviet anti-space defense system: the "satellite Fighter". During its existence, at least ten space battles were held. The task is always the same: find and destroy. It was executed as many times as it was set. Time to complete-no more than two orbits. Ideally – one turn. This was almost achieved when the program was discontinued. Orbital interception was also carried out in the United States, but with a long delay in time from the USSR. The methods were also different. Says the Director Of the Museum of air defense troops Yuri Knutov:
Launch of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-13 manned spacecraft from the launch pad of the Baikonur cosmodrome"
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Alexey Kudenko
Soviet satellite fighters were never used in a real battle. But the training demonstration was enough to scare the whole world.
7 hours of fear
Launch of the Bulava missile from the Knyaz Vladimir submarine"
Image source: © Ministry of defense of the Russian Federation
The last time this happened was during the exercise of the strategic forces "Shield-82". In the West, they were given a different name: "seven-Hour nuclear war". Indeed, within seven hours, several medium-range and Intercontinental ballistic missiles were fired from various regions of the USSR, including from under water, as well as two anti-missiles and three launch vehicles: with navigation, intelligence, and a killer satellite. Against this background, the launches of ground-based cruise and tactical missiles went almost unnoticed. As well as air and sea landings. The show of force was so impressive that less than a year later, NATO countries conducted exercises "like at war". Yuri Knutov recalled that " the leaders of all the countries of the Alliance arrived at the command posts and worked according to the wartime codes." The situation was a hundred times more tense than during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Only one thing saved the world from General panic: no one told anyone about the details of those exercises of the Warsaw Pact and NATO countries.
By Olga Bugrova, Sputnik Radio
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