WWW Irkutsk Newsletter

MILITARY RADAR STATION TO CO-OPERATE WITH IRKUTSK SCIENTISTS

22 October 1999

IRKUTSK - WWW.Irkutsk.Com:
The military radar station in Mishelevka, 96 km northwest
of Irkutsk, made one of its radar units available to Irkutsk
scientists.

Senior researcher from the Institute of Solar-Terretrial Physics 
(Irkutsk) Alexander Potekhin says that the radar is used in 
a joint research project with scientists from the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. The unit was modified 
in order to be included into an international network, which
monitors the atmosperic conditions at altitudes from 150 
to 1000 km and higher.

The early-warning radar station is designed to monitor missile 
launches in the vast eastern region covering North Korea and 
part of the Arctic zone. It was built in the framework of the
Russian space program and was initially intended for space
telecommuncation and control. The station must undergo 
modernization in the near future.

The station has been a subject of recent speculation in the media.
According to them, the USA has offered a deal to Russia. 
Washington will help Moscow complete the construction of the
station in exchange for Moscow's acceptance of a revision to the 
Russian-US Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. That revision 
would  allow the U.S. to deploy a national missile defence system 
covering the entire country. 

[Sources: Vostochno-Sibirskaya Pravda, Financial Times 
Archive, BBC Radio Monitoring, Voice of Russia Radio]