Hantsavichy Radar Station - History

History

The Volga was developed by NIIDAR from the Dunay-3U radar. Construction started in 1982 to counter the installation of Pershing II missiles in West Germany which were only 6 to 8 minutes away in flight time. These intermediate missiles were eliminated by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which was signed in December 1987.

Work still continued on the radar even though the Pershing missiles had been removed. The radar was not compliant with the 1972 ABM treaty as this forbade multifunction radars. The Volga was in breach of this as it was designed to guide anti-ballistic missiles (an 'ABM radar') as well as acting as an early warning radar. As the United States had managed to get the Daryal radar at Yeniseysk demolished for being in breach of the treaty the Soviet Union removed ABM radar abilities from the Volga as it was being built.

Work on the radar stopped in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. It restarted in 1993 once it became apparent that Russia would lose the early warning station in Skrunda and with it coverage of missiles from the north west. Some testing took place in 1994 and in 1995 a 25 year agreement was signed between Russia and Belarus giving Russia a 25 year lease on the ground and all buildings with no taxes and with no charge made for communication channels. When the Dnestr-M radars in Skrunda were shut down in 1998 Russia restarted the construction of the Volga. Test operations started in 1999 and pilot operations in 2002. It was finally commissioned on 1 October 2003.

One of the manufacturers was quoted as saying that two other Volga installations were once planned - one at Komsomolsk-na-Amur and one at Sevastopol. Another source says that a Volga was originally planned in Biysk in Altai Krai to provide coverage of China.