July 11, 2022
Russian designed the weapon in question, known only as Kalina, to target foreign imaging satellites flying over Russian territory. The anti-satellite weapon is part of Russia’s Ministry of Defense’s Krona space surveillance complex.
That complex is situated several kilometers to the west of Zelenchukskaya. Additionally, the weapon is close to the Russian Academy of Science’s Astrophysical Observatory.
Russia has used the complex to run a system that uses both radar and lidar to provide targeting data to Russian anti-satellite systems. The Russian government conceived the original idea for the complex in the 1970s. However, it didn’t become operational until the early 2000s.
Kalina will expand on the systems that Krona already offers.
Back in 2011, Russia initiated work on a project to create an anti-satellite weapon known as Kalina. For the past decade, work on the weapon has suffered multiple delays.
However, recent captures of the area using Google Earth show that construction on Russia’s anti-satellite weapon has finally begun.
Essentially, this means that Kalina is a tool that Russia plans to use to disrupt foreign satellites passing over Russian territory.
The evidence for this line of thinking comes from three primary sources. First, a bank guarantee published online in January of 2014 notes that the goal of Kalina’s creation was to create a “functional suppression” of electro-optical systems using solid-state lasers.
Secondly, another document that appeared online in 2017 noted Kalina within a list of planned military projects. This document listed the anti-satellite weapon as a “space security complex”. The document used this same term to categorize several other anti-satellite systems.
Ultimately, Kalina’s full potential as an anti-satellite weapon is unknown. We know that Russia conceived the weapon in 2011. And, now that construction is moving forward, it’s possible Russia will utilize it sometime in the future.
Russia has continued to stay secretive with its ongoing space missions. So, it will be interesting to see what use Kalina has for the government going forward.
