SLONIM VLF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTER STATION (SLONIM WEST SLAVE MOON STATION) DEPLOYED COMM/ELEC/RADAR FACILITIES USSR JULY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T04563A000100010043-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2005
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: August 6, 1999
• Content Type: REPORT

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Basic Imagery Interpretation Report
NATIONAL
PHOTOGRAPHIC
INTERPRETATION
CENTER
SLONIM VLF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
TRANSMITTER STATION
(SLONIM WEST SLAVE MOON STATION)
DEPLOYED COMM/ELEC/RADAR FACILITIES
USSR
JULY 1969
NSA review completed
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GROUP 1 FXC LUDED FROM
AUTOMATIC DOWNGRADING
AND DECLASSIFICATION
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MAP REFERENCE
ACIC. US Air Target Chart, Series 200, Sheet M0168-18HL, 4th ed, Oct 66, scale 1:200,000
(SECRET,
ABSTRACT
This report provides a detailed imagery-derived analysis of the newly designated
Slonim West Slave MOON Station (Slonim VLF Radio Communications Transmitter Sta-
tion), USSR. It includes a functional analysis, location map, mensuration, and photog-
raphy of the facility.
This facility is one of two MOON (long range navigation aid) slave facilities in the
USSR which. were previously identified as very low frequency (VLF) communications
stations. The other facility is located at Zhemkovka
The Slonim facility has been identified as the western MOON station because of its
similarity to other known MOON stations and a correlation between photography and
or this facility.
In addition to the MOON antenna, the facility contains a support area and a barrage-
type balloon that probably supports an antenna, possibly for backup or emergency use.
INTRODUCTION
Slonim West Slave MOON Station is one of the five stations in the MOON 3 naviga-
tional system (Figure 1). MOON 3 is a long-range low frequency (LF) hyperbolic navi-
gational aid system The MOON 3 system, an update of
the original MOON system,
The MOON system has been present in the Soviet Union since the late 1950s or early
1960s and was known to consist of four slave stations, two on a north/south baseline
and two on an east/west baseline with a master station located at the intersection of the
east/west and north/south baselines. The northern slave station is at Pryazha (61-45-35N
033-41-35E, the master station is at Karachev (53-07N 034-55E,
These facilities have been identified since the early 1960s.
and the southern slave station is at Pochtovoye (44-53-18N 033-52-23E,
Slonim was not originally identified as the western slave station primarily because o
the difference in its antenna configuration from the other known MOON facilities. F
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The Slonim facility is similar in most
respects to the western MOON station at Zhemkovka (53-17-18N 048-07-15E; 25X1
3 Both facilities have an LF pentagonal array and balloon-supported probable LF
vertical wire arrays. Similar balloon pads have been seen at the master MOON station
and the northern and southern MOON slave stations. 3
Slonim West Slave MOON Station is located at an elevation of 650 feet, 4 nautical
miles (nm) northeast of Slonim, USSR. The surrounding terrain is relatively flat and
quite low which makes it well suited for LF signal propagation. The facility is secured
by a single wire fence and contains approximately 455 acres.
BASIC DESCRIPTION
Operational Functions
Two antennas are located in the operations area. The major antenna is a centrally
located LF pentagonal array and the second is a balloon supported probable LF vertical
wire antenna.
The LF pentagonal array contains six towers, each high. One of these towers 25X1
is centrally located and the remaining five (perimeter towers) form a pentagonal config-
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uration around it. The central tower is fed by two separate parallel overhead radio
frequency (RF) feedlines that originate at the hardened control/transmitter building (item
5, Figure 2, and Table 1). Each of the perimeter towers is fed via a buried cable ema-
nating from the central tower. Small probable tuning buildings have been placed at the
base of each tower. Each of the towers has four stories of guying. A circle of 10 equally
spaced masts, each high with a chord distance separation of 250 feet, is at a
radius of 410 feet from the central tower. The balloon pad (item 6, Figure 2) is immedi-
ately west of the hardened control/transmitter building.
The support area, located in the northwestern corner of the facility, contains 24
buildings with a total floorspace of approximately 59,000 square feet.
Status and Activity
The Slonim facility was first observed in Although the pentagonal array 25X1
was probably complete on the initial =photography, its completed configuration could
when it appeared to be operational.
The pad for the balloon antenna was complete in I I but the
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I VI JL%..I\L I I I -.- -
ACIC. US Air Target Chart, Series 200, Sheet M0168-18HL, 4th ed, Oct 66, scale 1:200,000 (SECRET/
~eports, 24 Jun 66 (TOP SECRET
REQUIREMENT
COMIREX BC-C/005-69
NPIC Project 210667
Zhemkovka VLF Radiocommunications Transmitter Facility, Jun 69 (TOP SECRET
TOP SECRET
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