Russia’s First Icbm Detection Satellite to Be Launched in 2009 – Commander

MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax-AVN) – The flight testing of the new- generation satellite intended to detect ballistic missile launches is to begin in 2009, Russian Space Forces Commander Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin told the press on Thursday.

“All relevant decisions have been made to radically change the orbital grouping of satellites intended to detect ballistic missile launches. Flight testing is to begin in 2009,” Popovkin said.

A program has also been launched to upgrade the ground infrastructure of the early warning system.

“We had a very serious ‘hole’ in the northwestern sector, but the Lekhtusi station has ‘filled’ it,” he said.

Russia has a solid early warning field in all missile-dangerous directions, he added.

Popovkin announced that radio and optic-electronic space surveillance means are being developed “to make space surveillance global.”

But the space-related tasks must be realistic, not something related to science fiction, the general said. He criticized the proposal to use Space Forces for dealing with the asteroid threat.

The chance of an asteroid hitting the earth is miniscule, he said.

“In some estimates, the chance of a Third Word War erupting is much greater. Let us deal with real threats, not with fantasies,” Popovkin said.

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