LOCATION: Balezinskiy rayon, Udmurtiya.
[Anatoliy Goncharov, "Tayna belogo goroda,"
Izvestiya Udmurtskoy respubliki," 3
July 2001; in
Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.]
ACTIVITIES:
The Pibanshur ICBM dismantlement facility (military
unit No. 25850)
was created in November 1956[1]
as a ballistic missile storage facility.[2]
In the early 1990s the facility was converted for use as a missile elimination
facility, specializing in the elimination of SS-11 and SS-19 ICBMs.[3]
The base is operated almost exclusively by officers, warrant officers,
and civilian specialists. The conscript contingent is relatively
small, and its duties are limited to ensuring site protection. As of 2001, some
90% of the conscripts came from Udmurtiya. Their proportion was on the rise
throughout the second half of the 1990s.[1]
For more recent developments at the
Pibanshur elimination facility, please see
the Russia: Nuclear Weapons: ICBM
Deactivation and Dismantlement section. Sources:
[1] Anatoliy Goncharov, "Tayna belogo goroda," Izvestiya Udmurtskoy
Respubliki," 3 July 2001; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru.
[2] "Mozhno li v Rossii ukrast atomnuyu bombu," Rossiyskiy Chernobyl, 17
July 1998; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru.
[3] "V Rossii i SShA, vne zavisimosti ot ratifikatsii dogovorov SNV-1 i SNV-2,
idet planovaya likvidatsiya otsluzhivshikh svoye raketnykh kompleksov,"
Krasnaya zvezda, 5 October 1994; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru.
{Updated 9/16/2002 MJ}
SUROVATIKHA
LOCATION: Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast SUBORDINATION: Russian Aerospace Agency (Rosaviakosmos) ACTIVITIES:
Surovatikha elimination
facility (military unit No. 32193)[1] is a former Strategic Rocket Forces (SRF) missile
storage and assembly facility.[2] After the US Department of Defense and
Russian Committee for Defense Industry signed an agreement on 26 August 1993
concerning strategic offensive arms elimination, the Surovatikha base was
converted into a ballistic missile elimination facility.[3]
Although the facility was briefly closed in the late 1990s, in 2000 the SRF
began preparations to resume missile elimination activities.[4]
Surovatikha resumed operation in December 2001, and by August 2002 had
eliminated 36 ICBMs, including
17
SS-18s and 19 SS-13s. At the time, an additional 17 SS-18s and 19 SS-13s were
awaiting elimination at the facility.[5]
As of February 2002, the facility was still undergoing renovation and expansion
of its elimination capabilities to 50 missiles a year. The reconstruction is
being conducted by the Design Bureau of Transport/Chemical Machine-Building (KBTKhM)
with US financial support.[3] The facility has been visited by US delegations
headed by Senator Richard Lugar on two occasions, in August 2001 and August
2002. During the visits a number of deficiencies were identified (including
the need to alter the rail link to the facility to accommodate ICBM shipments)
and additional funding for the facility was pledged.
According to Lugar, while the United States had invested $10 million in the facility
by August 2001,[6]
by August 2002 that total had increased to $15 million.[5]
In June 2001 the Russian government decided to transfer the facility from the
Ministry of Defense to the Russian Aerospace Agency , making it possible for a
wider range of enterprises to participate in the elimination activities.[3]
According to various sources, the transfer took place either in October 2001,[7]
or February 2002.[8]
In February 2002,
Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast Governor
Gennadiy Khodyrev
and Rosaviakosmos Director Yuriy Koptev
sent a request to SRF Commander General Nikolay Solovtsov for permission to
involve oblast-based civilian enterprises in the elimination activities and
scrap metal sale.[7]
However, there is no information available regarding a response to this request.
As of September 2003, there did not appear to be any oblast civilian enterprises
involved in elimination activities at Surovatikha.
For more recent developments at the Surovatikha elimination facility, please see
the Russia: Nuclear Weapons: ICBM
Deactivation and Dismantlement section. Sources:
[1] Semen Katsman,
"Mirnaya smert
'Chernogo satany'," Monitor,
7 August 1998; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru/.
[2] Maksim Gamzin,
"Posledniy reys
'Chernoy Satany'," Prospekt,
24 April 2001; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru/.
[3] Snezhana
Ivanova, "Grazhdanskiye predpriyatiya zaymutsya likvidatsiyey raket,"
Monitor,
11 February 2002, p. 1; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru/.
[4] "Baza likvidatsii strategicheskikh
yadernykh raket 'Surovatikha' gotovitsa prinyat uchastiye v vypolnenii dogovora
SNV-2," Nizhegorodskaya pravda, 20 April 2000, p.1; in WPS Oborona i
Bezopasnost, No. 54, 12 May 2000.
[5] "Nizhegorodskaya oblast. Za 9 mesyatsev na baze v Surovatikhe bylo
unichtozheno 36 mezhkontinentalnykh ballisticheskikh raket," Regions.ru Web
Site,
http://www.regions.ru, 27 August 2002.
[6] "Senator Lugar schitayet, chto investitsiy v obyekt v Surovatikhe yavno
nedostatochno," Nizhegorodskoye telegrafnoye agentstvo, 29 August 2001; in
Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru/.
[7] "Nizhegorodskaya oblast. Gubernator i direktor 'Rosaviakosmosa' prosyat
razreshit grazhdanskim predpriyatiyam uchastvovat v utilizatsii ballisticheskikh
raket," Regions.ru Web Site,
http://www.regions.ru/, 7
February 2002; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.ru/.
[8] RTR television, 7 February 2002; in
"Russian aerospace chief visits missile destruction site," FBIS Document
CEP20020208000141. {Updated 9/13/2002 MJ}
Delivery Vehicle Facilities
