1983 SOVIET SEABORNE MILITARY ARMS TRANSSHIPMENT ACTIVITY NIKOLAYEV AND VLADIVOSTOK, USSR 5 DECEMBER 1983

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84T00491R000101410001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 19, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: April 4, 1984
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP84T00491 R000101410001-0
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP84T00491 R000101410001-0
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Attachment to
NPIC/IEG (04/84)
4 APRIL 1984
1983 SOVIET SEABORNE MILITARY ARMS TRANSSHIPMENT ACTIVITY
N K E AND VLADIVOSTOK, USSR (SWN)
1. SIGNIFICANCE: THIS REPORT SUMMARIZES MILITARY ARMS TRANSSHIPMENT
ACTIVITY OBSERVED AT SEVEN SOVIET PORTS DURING 1983. (SWN)
2. REMARKS: THE SEVEN SOVIET PORTS INVOLVED IN MILITARY ARMS
TRANSSHIPMENT ACTIVITY ARE NIKOLAYEV PORT FACILITIE SOUTH,
ILICHEVSK PORT COMPLEX SUKHOY LIMAN NOVOROSSIYSK 25X1
PORT COMPLEX KERCH PORT COMPLEX 25X1
ODESSA PORT LITIES , LENINGRAD PORT COMPLEX 25X1
AND VLADIVOSTOK PORT FACILITIES. NIKOLAYEV PORT 2oX1
FACILITIES SOUTH IS THE PRINCIPAL PORT IN TERMS OF QUANTITY AND
DIVERSITY OF EQUIPMENT SHIPPED TO THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES. ONLY
MILITARY WEAPONS AND WEAPONS-ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT ARE HANDLED AT
NIKOLAYEV. THE OTHER SIX PORTS HANDLE MAINLY COMMERCIAL CARGO
WITH INFREQUENT MILITARY TRANSSHIPMENTS. (SWN)
NIKOLAYEV PORT FACILITIES SOUTH (SWN)
DURING 1983, IMAGERY CONFIRMED THAT AT LEAST 7,929 ITEMS OF MAJOR
MILITARY EQUIPMENT WERE SHIPPED FROM NIKOLAYEV IN CONTRAST TO AT
LEAST 5,895 MILITARY ITEMS IN 1982. OUR ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT
THIS IMAGERY CONFIRMED INCREASE IS A RESULT OF INCREASED IMAGERY
COLLECTION RATHER THAN SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASED SOVIET ARMS
EXPORTS. NIKOLAYEV WAS IMAGED 93 TIMES ON USABLE IMAGERY (AN
AVERAGE OF ONCE EVERY THREE DAYS) IN 1983 COMPARED TO 52 TIMES IN
1982, A 79 PER CENT INCREASE. (TSR)
EXPANSION OF THE NORTH MOLE AREA AT NIKOLAYEV BEGAN IN APRIL 1983
AND IS STILL CONTINUING (FIGURE 1). THE CONSTRUCTION OF A
U-SHAPED LANDFILL AREA NORTH OF THE NORTH MOLE HAS CREATED A NEW
BASIN ADJACENT TO THE NORTH MOLE AREA. THE NORTH MOLE ITSELF HAS
BEEN WIDENED. THE AREAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION, WHEN COMPLETED,
COULD PROVIDE BERTHING POSITIONS FOR SEVEN OR EIGHT MERSHIPS.
EXISTING BERTHING POSITIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR SIX MERSHIPS. THE
NUMBERS AND CLASSES OF MERSHIPS THAT LOADED AT THE PORT IN 1983
These notes have been prepared for briefing purposes only and should not be used for detailed analytical work.
Their use should be restricted to the particular briefing board(s) they were prepared for and must be considered
valid only for the reporting period as indicated by the date of issue.
Ton Secret RUFF
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP84T00491 R000101410001-0
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NPIC/IEG (04/84)
4 APRIL 1984
WERE ABOUT THE SAME AS THOSE FOR 1982. APPROXIMATELY 210
MERSHIPS WERE LOADED AT NIKOLAYEV DURING 1983 COMPARED TO
APPROXIMATELY 215 IN 1982. THE MERSHIP COUNTS WERE DERIVED FROM
INTEGRATING IMAGERY WITH MERSHIP TRAFFIC REPORTED BY NAVAL
OPERATIONS INTELLIGENCE CENTER (NAVOPINTCEN). (SWN)
SYRIA, LIBYA, IRAQ (VIA KUWAIT), ANGOLA, ALGERIA, ETHIOPIA, NORTH
YEMEN, SOUTH YEMEN, INDIA, MOZAMBIQUE, CUBA, AND VIETNAM WERE THE
MAJOR RECIPIENTS OF MILITARY ARMS FROM THE USSR IN 1983. WEAPON
SYSTEMS AND MILITARY EQUIPMENT IDENTIFIED AT NIKOLAYEV (FIGURE 2)
FOR THE FIRST TIME WERE SA-5 (TO SYRIA), CLAM SHELL ACQUISITION
RADARS (TO SYRIA), TRANSPORTABLE ELECTRONICS TOWERS (TET) (TO
SYRIA), SV-EL-01 METEORLOGICAL RADARS (TO SYRIA AND LIBYA), SSC-3
MOBILE COASTAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS (TO SYRIA AND LIBYA), DR-3
RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS (TO SYRIA), AND BMD ARMORED AMPHIBIOUS
AIRBORNE VEHICLES (TO IRAQ). (SWN)
THE EIGHT CLASSES OF MERSHIPS MOST FREQUENTLY SEEN IN PORT DURING
1983 WERE LENINSKIY KOMSOMOL, SLAVYANSI MOD-A, KAPITAN
KUSHNARENKO, MUROM, KOMMUNIST, PULA, BEZHITSA POLTAVA AND
AKADEMIK TUPOLEV ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF (RO-RO). ALSO SEEN DURING
1983, BUT ON A LESS FREQUENT BASIS (ABOUT 20% OF THE
APPROXIMATELY 210 MERSHIPS THAT LOADED AT THE PORT), WERE THE
GEROI PANFILOVTSY-CLASS, NIKOLAY ZHUKOV-CLASS AND THE RO/RO
CLASSES IVAN SKURIDIN, IVAN SKURIDIN MOD-A AND SKULPTOR
KONENKOV. THE IVAN SKURIDIN MOD-A CLASS WAS SEEN AT NIKOLAYEV
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AUGUST. (SWN)
OTHER SOVIET PORTS (SWN)
IN ADDITION TO NIKOLAYEV PORT FACILITIES SOUTH, SIX OTHER SOVIET
PORTS HAVE OCCASIONALLY BEEN INVOLVED IN ARMS TRANSSHIPMENTS TO
THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES. THEIR TOTAL 1983 MILITARY ARMS SHIPMENTS
ARE NOT NEARLY AS SIGNIFICANT AS THAT FROM NIKOLAYEV. SPORADIC
SIGHTINGS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT, PRIMARILY HIP AND/OR HAZE
FUSELAGE AND COMPONENT CONTAINERS, HAVE CONTINUED AT ILICHEVSK
PORT COMPLEX SUKHOY LIMAN, NOVOROSSIYSK PORT COMPLEX, KERCH PORT
COMPLEX, ODESSA PORT FACILITIES, AND LENINGRAD PORT COMPLEX.
MOSTLY TANKS AND ARMORED VEHICLES WERE HANDLED AT VLADIVOSTOK
PORT FACILITIES. (SWN)
These notes have been prepared for briefing purposes only and should not be used for detailed analytical work.
Their use should be restricted to the particular briefing board(s) they were prepared for and must be considered
valid only for the reporting period as indicated by the date of issue.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP84T00491 R000101410001-0
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TOP SECRET RUFF
1983 SOVIET SEABORNE MILITARY ARMS
TRANSSHIPMENT ACTIVITY
TABLE 1
NIKOLAYEV
OTHER SOVIET PORTS
MILITARY CATEGORY
1983
1982
1983
1982 *
TANK
844
609
92
APC
1,683
1,591
65
ARTILLERY
1,783
1,099
5
MRL
1,219
112
NONE
GAP CROSSING
198
177
2
SAM
1,918
1,439
8
TAC SSM
98
13
NONE
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
332
296
NONE
DRONES
35
NONE
NONE
CRUISE MISSILE
263
166
NONE
ASM
119
83
NONE
AIRCRAFT
382
272
2
HELICOPTER
55
38
80
61, AT LEAST
* SOURCE IMAGERY WAS INSUFFICIENT IN QUANTITY TO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL
INFORMATION EXCEPT FOR HELICOPTERS.
NPIC/IEG (4/84) 4 OF 4
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NPIC/IEG (04/84)
4 APRIL 1984
EXCLUDING THE LENINGRAD AND VLADIVOSTOK PORTS, WHICH ARE
REGULARLY IMAGED, THE COMBINED USABLE IMAGES ACQUIRED IN 1983 OF
THE OTHER FOUR PORTS WAS LESS THAN THAT ACQUIRED OF NIKOLAYEV.
BECAUSE OF THE GAPS IN COVERAGE OF THE PORTS (USUALLY ABOUT 10-14
DAYS, BUT AT TIMES AS GREAT AS 30 DAYS), THE QUANTITY OF ARMS
TRANSSHIPMENT ACTIVITY THAT ACTUALLY OCCURS AT THESE PORTS IS
UNDETERMINED. (TSR)
ON THE BASIS OF COMPARABLE IMAGE QUANTITY AND PERIODICITY,
VLADIVOSTOK PORT WAS MUCH MORE ACTIVE IN MILITARY ARMS SHIPMENTS
IN 1983 THAN IN 1982. THE 1982 ARMS TRANSSHIPMENT ACTIVITY
OBSERVED AT VLADIVOSTOK INVOLVED MAINLY HELICOPTER FUSELAGE
CONTAINERS. HOWEVER, 1983 IMAGERY SHOWS THAT ARMORED VEHICLES
AND TANKS (THE FIRST TIME TANKS HAVE BEEN SEEN AT THE PORT) WERE
THE PRINCIPAL ARMS SHIPMENTS FROM VLADIVOSTOK. AT LEAST 92
T-54/S5, TWO GSP, AT LEAST 65 ARMORED VEHICLES (POSSIBLE MT-LB),
EIGHT POSSIBLE SA-2 MISSILE TRANSPORTERS, AND FIVE POSSIBLE FIELD
ARTILLERY PIECES WERE SEEN AND SHIPPED-FROM VLADIVOSTOK PORT. IN
MID-AUGUST 1983, AT LEAST 30 MEDIUM TANKS WERE LOADED AT
VLADIVOSTOK PORT (FIGURE 3). IN MID-SEPTEMBER 1983, A SHIPMENT
OF AT LEAST 21 T-55 AND 15 T-34 MEDIUM TANKS WAS OBSERVED AT HAI
PHONG PORT FACILITIES SE , VIETNAM. THE TIME
BETWEEN THE LOADING OF MEDIUM TANKS AT VLADIVOSTOK AND THE
ARRIVAL OF A COMPARABLE NUMBER OF MEDIUM TANKS AT HAI PHONG PORT
SUGGESTS THAT THESE TWO SIGHTINGS WERE OF THE SAME TANKS. (SWN)
FIGURE 4 PRESENTS THE IMAGERY-DERIVED TOTAL NUMBERS OF MAJOR
MILITARY EQUIPMENT, BY GENERAL CATEGORIES, SHIPPED FROM SOVIET
PORTS DURING 1983, COMPARED TO 1982. THE NUMBERS OF MILITARY
ITEMS SHIPPED WERE OBTAINED FROM ANALYSIS OF EQUIPMENT MOVEMENTS
IN OPEN STORAGE AREAS AT THE PORTS. (SWN)
3.I I COORDINATES 46-49-57N 031-56-57E (S)
COORDINATES 43-05-47N 131-52-17E (S)
4. COLLATERAL REFERENCE: MED/LANT SIGNIFICANT MERSHIP ACTIVITY
(SMA) REPORTS FOR 1983, NAVOPINTCEN SUITLAND MD.
(SECRET/RELEASABLE TO NATO/NATO NATIONS/N 03840)
These notes have been prepared for briefing purposes only and should not be used for detailed analytical work.
Their use should be restricted to the particular briefing board(s) they were prepared for and must be considered
valid only for the reporting period as indicated by the date of issue.
Top Secret RUFF
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Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/19: CIA-RDP84T00491 R000101410001-0