GUIDED MISSILE INTELLIGENCE FROM THE KLYUCHI/KAMCHATKA COVERAGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T05439A000200220045-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 17
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 26, 2001
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: August 22, 1957
• Content Type: IM

ILLEGIB
Approved For Release 2001/07/12 : CIA-RDP78TO5439A000200220045-0
Approved For Release 2001/07/12 : CIA-RDP78TO5439A000200220045-0
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THE KLYUCffi/ESAMCKAZKA COVERAGE"
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OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC IIP=MI=CE
Declassification review by NIMA/DoD
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I PURPOSE
TT CONCLUSIONS
ill LISCUSSIONS
A. Guided Missile Intelligence Interest in the Klyuchi Area
B. Potential Guided Missile Information Available From AQUATONE
Coverage of Klyuchi Area
1. Klyuchi As An Impact Area
2. Klyuchi As A Launching Point
3. Impact Area vs Launching Point
C. Data Acquired by 4ATONE Coverage of Klyuchi Area
D. Guided Missile Knowledge from AQUATONE Coverage
1. Klyuchi As A Launching Point
2. Klyuchi As An Impact Area
3. Impact Area vs Launching Point
E. The Unanswered Guided Missile Intelligence Questions
Plate # 1 - Probable New Ballistic Missile Test Range
Plate # 2 - TALENT Aerial Photo Coverage - Kamchatka. Peninsula
Plate # 3 - Aircraft Activity and Radar Locations In The Klyuchi Area
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PREFACE
This Scientific Intelligence Memorandum provides a smmnary of the guided
missile intelligence derived from AQUATONE coverage of the Klyuchi/Kamchatka
area on A brief treatment of the reasons for guided missile
intelligence interest in the Klyuchi area is included as veil as a discussion
of type of information which it was hoped would be acquired by the AQUATONE
coverage .
Detailed photographic assessment of the AQUATONE data is continuing at
HT A171'QKAT; it is unlikely however, that future photographic analysis will
reveal air new information of sufficient guided missile.importance to alter
the conclusions reached herein.
The precise role of the.Klyuchi area in the Soviet guided missile program
continues to be the subject of further studies in OS2/CIA.
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THE KLYUCHI/KAMCHATKA COVERAGE
To assess the guided missile intelligence derived fry the AQUATONE
coverage or the Klyuchi/Kamchatka area.
1. The AQUATONE coverage did not reveal any specific indications of
guided missile activity.
2. The probability that the Klyuchi area is the terminus rather than
the launch point for a new guided missile test range between Novokazalinsk/
Dzhusa]y and Klyuchi areas is strengthened by the complete lack of evidence
of the extensive facilities associated with rangehead type activities. The
failure to detect instrumentation sites normally associated with an impact
area is not surprising in view of the relatively less conspicuous equipment
involved, and the fact that the most likely sites for such equipment were
'under cloud cover.
3. Within the presently permissible boundaries of future AQUATONE
flights, the best known opportunity for acquiring data Mich should answer
critical questions on the status of the Soviet ICBM program is coverage of the
probable new rangehead in the Novokazalinsk/Dzhusaly area.
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A. Guided Missile Intelligence Interest in the Klyuchi Area.
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1. By its geographic location alone, the Kamchatka Peninsula area,
including its bordering bodies of water, has. long been a suspect location
for the terminus of a new long distance ballistic missile flight test range.
Impact points here would provide the longest great circle distance between
lznovn and suspect launching points in western USSR. Flight test ranges of
a 3000 to 4500 nautical miles could be achieved.
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*The Novokazalinsk Dzhusaly area also includes the Kzyl Orda area.
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B. Potential Guided Missile Information Available From AQUATONE
Coverage of K].yuchi Area
1. zchi As An Impact Area. Instrumentation sites for acquiring
missile telemetry and trajectory data would probably be located along the
terminal trajectory path. It was unlikely that the AQUATONE photographs
would provide sufficient resolution to determine the type of equipment
located on the site and, consequently, the specific purpose and "readiness"
of the site. With good general coverage of the Klyuchi area it might be possible
to determine an instrumentation site pattern from which the intended impact area
could be deduced.
2. Administrative and logistic support for the instrumentation sites
in an impact area would probably be centralized on one location - possibly
Klyuchi. Approximately 200-1+00 personnel would be needed to operate the
equipment and provide "housekeeping" functions. A rapid and dependable
ccz+i+unication system is needed to connect this location with its instrumentation
sites. In addition, an equivalent system is required to connect the central
location with the rangehead control station. A modest transportation terminus
and same warehouse-type storage facilities should be present.
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2. Two military type installations are located in the town of Klyuchi;
one has been completed for sometime, and the other is currently under con-
struction. The installation under construction consists of seven large two
story buildings of barracks or warehouse type ranging in size from 30' x 90'
to 60' x 130', and several other smaller buildings in varying stages of con-
struction. On the western outskirts of Klyuchi there were seven HOUND
helicopters parked in a sma11 clearing. No large airstrips were detected
near the town of Klyuchi; a large area (approximately 1,000' x 11,000') is
being cleared just north of the town of Kozyrevsk whLsh looks like the early
stages of airfield construction.
3. The photography reveals considerable logging activity in -the area.
Villages of the Kamchatka River Valley are connected.by a narrow swath
(approximately 20' wide) cut through the vegetation which is typical of
c nuunication or power line clearings. The transportation in the area is
restricted to narrow trails except in the immediate vicinity of villages and
logging camps. There is considerable river traffic consisting of barges and
small craft. Nearly all activities, (towns, logging camps, trails, communication
or power lines and river docks) are located on the southern side of the
Kamchatka river indicating little activity to the Immediate north.
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D. Guided Missile Knowledge Derived From AQUATONE Coverage.
1. Klyuchi As A Launching Point. The AQUATORE coverage revealed no
evidence of guided missile rangehead type activities. In fact there was
a-ca~plete lack of any evidence indicating that such activity was intended for
the area or could be supported by the logistic capabilities evident in and
around K1yuchi. Although it is recognized that a rangehead3 could be located
support during both the construction and operational phases. There is
no indication of such logistic activity in the Klyuchi area.
c. The very rugged terrain and extremely poor weather conditions
make this whole area of Kamchatka generally unfavorable for rangehead
in an area under cloud cover, this is considered high21-y unlikely for the
following reasons:
a. Klyuchi in-
dicating that the guided missile activity involved probably has its
headquarters in Klyuchi;
b. Rangehead activities would require considerable logistic
activities .
2- The AQUATONE coverage definitely weakens, but does not positively
exclude, the possibility of a guided missile rangehead being located in the
Klyuchi area .
3. Klyuchi As An Impact Area. The AQUATONE
coverage did not provide any
direct indications of the guided missile test range instrumentation sites
normally associated with an impact area. Such sites would probably be dispersed
along the terminal trajectory path and located on fairly elevated plateaus to
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provide line-of-sight tracking on the incoming missile all the way to its
impact point. Water impact is likely; therefore, some small "shacks" along
the coastline with cables leading out into water to sonic detection systems
would also be expected. Considering the probable locations of instrumentation
sites and the areas under cloud cover, the absence of any direct indications
of such sites on the photography is not surprising.
t+. A heliport with seven HOUND helicopters was detected on the western
edge of Klyuchi. Although these helicopters could be utilized for many
purposes, there is the distinct possibility that they sexv-ice guided missile 25X1D
instrumentation sites dispersed along the terminal tra0ectory-path." In this
Many of the destination points fall along a
possible terminal trajectory path for ballistic missiles intended to impact
in the water off the Kamchatka coast. Nine of the sixteen flights detected
are to a coastal location between Ust Kamchatsk and Uka, and could be for
installing or servicing instrumentation concerned with the sonic detection
of water impacts.
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5. The military installation currently under construction could be a
focal point for the impact area and.; as such could provide ample housing,
warehouse and general logistic support facilities for the outlying in-
strumentation and communication sites. The 21,000 tons of cargo destined for
Special Construction Unit at Kiyuchi could well be going into this
new installation.
6. Impact Area vs Launching Point. The complete lack of any indications
of guided missile rangehead type activities in or around Klyuehi definitely
weakens this possibility. These negative results when considered in the
light of other associations with the guided missile program strengthen the
probability that the Klyuehi area will be the terminus for the new test range.
The comparative likelihood of detecting indicators of the two activities
also becomes a factor favoring the "impact area" explanation. Although the
Klyuehi mission failed to reveal any specific guided. missile information, the
negative results therefrom are of- intelligence value both in assessing the
role of Klyuehi in the Soviet guided missile program and in planning future
collection activities.
8. The Unanswered Guided Missile Intelligence Questions.
.1. This study further supports the belief that the Klyuchi area is
probably the terminus for a new guided missile test range and as such un-
doubtedly would contain instrumentation sites. The types, quantities and
locations of these sites are not known. AQUATONE coverage of the whole area
would probably reveal possible locations of instrumentation sites from which
a reasonable estimate of the intended impact point could be deduced.
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on Plate #3. The resolution and acuteness limits of A~UATQNE search plots
would preclude a definite identification of either the purpose or the equip-
meat. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that the timing or status of the
Soviet ICBM program can be acquired by additional AQUATONE coverage of the
K yuchi area at this time.
2. The probability that the launching point for a new long range
ballistic missile test facility is located in the Novokazalinsk/Dzhusaly
area is strengthened by the negative results of the Kltyuchi coverage. The
typesf= quantities, sizes and interconnections of rangehead facilities are
susceptible to AQUATONE photography of sufficient clarity and resolution
to determine the "readiness" of the test range. Consequently, within the
presently permissible boundaries of -future AQUATONE flights, the best known
opportunity for acquiring data which should answer the critical question on
the status of the Soviet ICBM program is coverage of the probable new
rangehead in the Novokazalinsk/Dzhusaly area-.
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