On March 30, 1967, by a directive of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defense Troops were created as part of the country's air defense forces.
The original abbreviation of this type of troops looked like this: missile defense and PKO troops. The need for their appearance was dictated by a new military threat, namely, the adoption of long-range ballistic missiles by the countries of the probable enemy. It was almost impossible to shoot them down with traditional means of air defense (anti-aircraft guns). They needed "anti-missiles" or devices with a high rate of fire - much higher than that of a machine gun. Gradually, both appeared.
But the main thing was not in the anti-missile weapons. We needed a system that would cover the entire territory of a huge country with an invisible dome. Of course, this required unthinkable costs, but in the 1960s, the leadership of the USSR considered that funds could be found.
The missile defense and PKO system itself was planned as a territorial network of facilities united by a single command and technical management. It was supposed to include radar means of preliminary warning (RLSPO) at long distances, anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs), electronic means of switching system elements, as well as means of ensuring continuous combat duty.
KB-1, headed by Chief Designer Grigory Kisunko, was engaged in the development of the missile defense and PKO system in accordance with a special resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
The idea of creating missile defense and PKO troops also consisted in the fact that when a missile danger was detected, the country's leadership, as well as the General Staff and headquarters of the branches of the Soviet Army, had to be informed about it first. Because only the first persons of the state had the right to make a decision on the reaction. Of course, after consulting with the military. All this also concerned the potential threat from outer space.
The first steps towards the creation of the "dome" were made in 1961, when the ballistic missile interception system was successfully tested. It was called system "A". Technically, its existence was ensured by the B-1000 anti-missiles. They were almost guaranteed to shoot down the combat blocks of medium-range ballistic missiles R-12. Tests of the "A" system were conducted at a specially built Sary-Shagan landfill near Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. The State Commission was satisfied with the results.
After that, with the comprehensive support of the leadership of the USSR, which made it possible to unite numerous scientific institutes, design bureaus and enterprises to solve a common task, the introduction of the missile defense and PKO system went at an accelerated pace.
This made it possible by 1967 to create an effective defense of the entire territory of the USSR and to establish a new branch of the armed forces. The initiative to separate it from the air defense belongs to Marshal of the Soviet Union Pavel Batitsky. He instructed to prepare the text of the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers "On the integration of the PRN, missile defense, KKP, PKO ..." into the missile defense and PKO troops.
By the way, the resolution was secret. On its basis, on March 30, 1967, the directive of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces appeared, which prescribed the creation of the Office of the Commander of the Anti-Missile and Anti-space defense forces as part of the main command of the air Defense forces.
The first commander of these troops in May 1967 was appointed Lieutenant General of Artillery Yuri Votintsev. He worked in this position until 1986.
With the designation of missile defense and PKO, these troops existed until 1992. Now, after all the military reforms, they are part of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation.
Oleg Galitsky
