Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the Space Surveillance Centre in Crimea with missiles: why it is important
24 June 2024 19:59
Ukrainian military strikes with ATACMS missiles destroyed the Russian Space Surveillance and Communications Centre in Crimea. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Global Defence Corp.
The media outlet reports that Russia has accused the United States of being responsible for the missile strike that Ukrainian troops carried out on the annexed Crimea. According to the Russian side, the missiles hit the Russian Space Surveillance and Communications Centre, causing numerous explosions and fires.
The media emphasises that the US had previously provided Ukraine with ATACMS missile systems with a longer range. The Ukrainian military has not commented on the attack, which comes a day after a Russian bomb hit a building in Kharkiv, killing people. Ukraine’s president appealed to the countries that support him, calling on them to help Ukraine intensify its attacks on Russia. At the same time, he said that the Ukrainian military needs more long-range weapons.
According to the newspaper, it is not yet known what exactly was used in the strike and what the result was.
“Moreover, the list of possible means is as wide as possible, it could have been drones, cruise or ballistic missiles, or even a strike from a Sea Baby drone with a Grad analogue. At the same time, the remoteness of the space communications centre, only 2 km from the coastline, makes the latter option quite likely,” Defense Express adds.
It should be noted that this is not the first time the facility has been targeted by the Armed Forces. For example, on 20 December 2023, an attack on the Long-Range Space Communications Centre, located in the village of Vitino, Saky district, was carried out at 5:00 am. The attack was carried out with Storm Shadow missiles.
What is the Space Surveillance and Communications Centre in Crimea?
The Long-Range Space Communications Centre in Vitino is a facility that the Russian army seized during the annexation of the peninsula and since 2014 has transferred the complex to the Aerospace Defence Forces and started its modernisation. It is located not far from Yevpatoria.
It operates the RT-70 telescope. It is the largest fully mobile parabolic radio telescope in Ukraine and one of the largest in the world. The antenna was built from 1973 to 1978. The telescope began operating in 1980, becoming the first implementation of the RT-70 radio telescope project, which was later used to build 2 more telescopes in Russia and Uzbekistan.
on 3 March 2014, due to the outbreak of Russian unrest in Crimea, the radio telescope temporarily ceased operations under the Radio Astron programme. In the spring of 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, the Russian authorities transferred the National Space Control and Test Centre to the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Defence, transforming it into a command and measurement complex of the Russian Aerospace Forces. After that, the RT-70 was not used in scientific work for many years and was mainly used to control the satellites of the Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system.
