On March 1, 1982, at the Novosibirsk State Technical University, diplomas were awarded and the distribution of graduates was read out. Half of the students from our faculty went to work at the Novosibirsk factories, others went to the Soviet army. New life attracted and frightened at the same time. I got a place in Priozersk, Dzhezkazgan region.
City on Balkhash
The way from Novosibirsk is far. Outside the train window, the forests were replaced by steppe. Closer to Balkhash, a real desert began. Sary-Shagan station forgotten by God and people. Buses with a red star. Checking documents upon entry. This place was also called the 10th State Research Site, or simply - the Sary-Shagan test site. Its vast territory stretched 600 kilometers west of Lake Balkhash.
The personnel department gave me a referral to Ethylene. Knowledgeable people explained - this is the 35th site. Then I didn't care - ethylene, methylene … I spent the weekend getting to know Priozersk. The city exceeded my expectations. Lots of trees, perfectly clean streets, a wide square, the Rossiya hotel. Further - nine-storey buildings, a turquoise Balkhash to the horizon, a tower - an exact copy of the Ostankino TV tower, a monument to the fallen pilots. It was felt that the place was serious.
35th site
Monday. 6:30 am. Buses come and take the officers to the 35th site. Straight as an arrow, concrete. There are two turns and three document checks per 100 kilometers. A desert scorched by the sun, white spots of salt marshes. Not a tree or a bush anywhere. As far as the eye can see - a plain with rare blade of grass and bright sun. Some shabby houses, unsightly buildings, repeater masts - the 35th platform appeared. Have arrived.
The first impression, frankly, was depressing. As soon as I thought that I would have to live here, my soul became melancholy.
At the headquarters, I was assigned to the seventh department. He threw his things into the hotel, met future colleagues, received uniforms, and the service began. The department had five officers, 60 soldiers and 30 special vehicles. The main task: to carry out special work to ensure missile launches on test teams. My position: senior operator - platoon commander. This meant that during special work it was necessary to perform the duties of the chief of the crew, in addition to which, also command a platoon.
The officers of the 35th site are mostly rocket men. In a month here one could get the same experience of combat launches as in 20 years in conventional troops. At the same time, they worked not on standard equipment, but on new, experimental, often untested ones. Living conditions match work: lack of oxygen in the desert air; interruptions in water, which was pumped 100 kilometers away: scorpions and phalanges on the doorstep. People were thrown to distant sites by helicopters.
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Tests
More than 20 years have passed since then. There is no state, no army to which I have sworn allegiance. The publication of this article will not reveal any military secrets.
Ethylene, 35th site, military unit 03145, 44th test center of the 10th State Research Site - these were the names of the same place. New anti-aircraft missile systems were tested on the site. The missiles were launched constantly. They started with test teams a few kilometers from the living area. A white pillar a kilometer high rose into the sky from the ground. And then the path of the rocket was visible on the contrail.
They shot at a given point in space, at target missiles: low-flying, high-flying, maneuvering, group. Tests are autonomous, complex, interdepartmental, state, overflights by aviation and so on. During the tests, shortcomings were identified. Industrialists - representatives of factories and institutes - eliminated them, and again launches.
System A-135 "Amur"
The main complex at our site was the A-135 "Amur" anti-missile defense system. To be more precise, on the 35th site there were silo launchers for short-range intercept interceptor missiles of the range version of the complex. At other sites, there were long-range interceptor missiles, tracking radars, support and control equipment. All the elements acted as a whole. The A-135 "Amur" system was intended to destroy ballistic missiles and low-orbit satellites, and the range version of the complex was needed to test, debug and improve the system.
When the anti-missile launch was being prepared, the soldiers were herded to the first floors of the barracks and forbidden to stand at the windows. And the officers who were accustomed to everything went out to watch the launch. I must say, these starts were not spectacular. The rocket flew out of the silo like a bullet. In three seconds, it accelerated to a speed of 5 km / s. The rocket was visible after the launch was only a few moments, and then it disappeared into the sky. During the night launch, on the site three kilometers from the start, in those seconds it became as light as day. It was these launches that I had to provide. Cooking them is a month of work. First, we came and took out the transport and launch container from the mine. Our installer MAZ-543 "Hurricane" drove up to the silo launcher, climbed on hydraulic supports until all wheels were lifted off the ground, and set up on benchmarks. An arrow went up. A corset went into the mineand the transport and launch container was removed from there. Burnt, with rags of casing, which were fluttering in the wind. All this looked impressive enough.
Then repair and restoration work began. Ladders and platforms descended into the mine, and industrialists climbed there. It was necessary to replace the burnt out wiring, sensors, cables and connectors. This work lasted one and a half to two weeks. Further, the stairs and platforms were pulled out. They brought a computer - an electric-weight model. This is the same rocket, only instead of a warhead and fuel - a safe inert substance. The computer was rolled from the transport machine to the transport-installation machine and installed in the mine. On it for several days the functioning of the onboard equipment and launch equipment was checked. Then the electric-scale model was taken out and returned to the transport vehicle. After that, it was the turn of the combat missile.
Special work
In the fall and winter of 1983-1984, we fired every month. Then, ICBMs were launched from the Kapustin Yar test site and the submarines of the Arctic Ocean, and we shot down warheads flying towards us at great altitude and speed. It was difficult, demanding and sometimes dangerous combat work. The launch followed the launch. Most of my nights were spent at the start near the roaring installer, in the wind and frost.
I saw photographs of modern anti-missile launches at the 35th site: day work, officers' crews, a crowd of generals and the presentation of orders after the launch. Everything happened at night, many times, and there were no awards. And now it often stands before our eyes: a winter night steppe, a frosty, prickly wind, the "carcass" of a transport and installation machine suspended on hydraulic supports, an arrow lifted up into the sky, a rocket above the mouth of the mine. On both sides, the site in front of the mine was illuminated by the headlights of KrAZ trucks. All cars hummed in the cold. Smoke billowed in the headlights. Dozens of people watched the work. The rocket went smoothly into the mine.
The special work was carried out in accordance with the schedule of bans. For every day, the duty officer gave out a time schedule - it was impossible to work when an enemy satellite was flying over us somewhere. During the day, at this time, the equipment was driven off to the hangars, and the mine was covered with a camouflage net. At night it was enough to interrupt, turn off the lights and equipment. Since each cycle of work lasted for many hours and it was impossible to clean the equipment, they worked mainly at night. Once I was on a business trip to the sixth site - our twin. Only there were long-range intercept missiles of the A-135 system. I saw a monument: on a pedestal, an unknown rocket on a launcher. The words are engraved on a modest plate: "Here, for the first time in the world, on March 4, 1961, a ballistic missile was intercepted and destroyed." I thought - even before Gagarin's flight. How often all sorts of nonsense is presented to us with pomp, but people don't know what to be proud of.
Instead of an epilogue
The strategic anti-missile defense system A-135 "Amur" has successfully passed all the tests and came to guard Moscow. This system is now the only strategic missile defense combat complex in the world, may Hollywood dreamers forgive me.
The 35th site has been serving in the Balkhash desert for decades. It is there that events take place that allow Russia to consider itself a great power. Now, on the 35th, an anti-missile is launched every one to two years to check the equipment and extend the service life of the complex. And any such start is a rusty nail in the boot of our overseas friends.
I have only had a chance to touch great deeds. I bow my head to the veterans of the training ground. To all soldiers, officers, industrialists - residents of the 35th site of all times - I wish you health and all the best!
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №8. Author: Alexander Kursakov