The system that are traditionally considered part of strategic defense -- missile defense, the early-warning system, space surveillance and anti-satellite systems -- are currently included into the 3rd Space and Missile Defense Army, which is part of the Space Forces. The Space Forces are a separate branch of Russia's Armed Forces, subordinated directly to the General Staff.

The army is responsible for "continuous observation of missile launches and space objects and delivering early warning information to the command centers of the Supreme High Command and General Staff, as well as for space surveillance and defense of Moscow from ballistic missiles and their warheads."

The 3rd Army Headquarters is located in Solnechnogorsk (Moscow oblast). Commander of the army is Lt.-General Sergey Kurushkin.

Early-warning system

Early-warning satellites

As of January 2008, the space part of the Russian early-warning system includes three satellites that appear operational -- two on highly-elliptical orbits (HEO) and one on a geostationary orbit (GEO).

Satellites deployed on the highly-elliptical orbit--Cosmos-2422 (HEO, launched on 21 Jul 2006, NORAD catalog number 29260) and Cosmos-2430 (HEO, 23 October 2007, 32268) -- are most likely first-generation satellites of the 73D6 type that were built for the US-KS system (also known as Oko). This system was designed to detect launches of ballistic missiles from the U.S. territory and cannot detect missiles launched from sea or other regions. The geostationary Cosmos-2379 (GEO, 24 Aug 2001, 26892) is a newer satellite of the 71Kh6 type, which has the capability to detect missiles against Earth background. Satellites of this type were developed for the US-KMO system, which was supposed to provide global coverage. This system is not yet operational.

The HEO satellites, Cosmos-2422 and Cosmos-2430, are in the position to observe launches from the U.S. territory for about 12 hours a day. Cosmos-2379 had been moved into the point of 12 degrees West on geostationary orbit in September 2007. This configuration does not allow the satellites to maintain 24-hour coverage of the U.S. territory, but may provide some coverage of SLBM launches from North Atlantic.

The early-warning satellites transmit information in real time tot he command center at Serpukhov-15 (near Kurilovo, Kaluga oblast). The information is processed there and transmitted to the command center of the 3rd Army in Solnechnogorsk.

Russia is also working on a new early-warning satellite system, but the fist test launch of this program is not expected before 2009.

Radars

The land-based component of the early-warning system includes nine stations (called radio-technical nodes, ORTU). Each of them includes one or several radars, which transmit information to the command center in Solnechnogorsk. Five of the nine stations are located outside of Russia.

In addition to the dedicated early-warning radars, the Don-2N radar of the Moscow missile defense system is also used for early-warning.

Missile defense

The Moscow missile defense system A-135 is operated by a division of the 3rd Army. The main command center of the system and the battle-management radar are located in Sofrino (Moscow oblast). The command center of the system and its radar are undergoing a software upgrade.

The system includes the Don-2N battle-management phased-array radar, command center, and 68 short-range interceptors of the 53T6 (Gazelle) type. The 32 long-range 51T6 (Gorgon) interceptors have been removed from the system. The short-range interceptors are deployed at five sites -- Lytkarino (16 interceptors), Sofrino (12), Korolev (12) Skhodnya (16), and Vnukovo (12). Long-range missiles used to be deployed with two units with headquarters in Naro-Fominsk-10 and Sergiyev Posad-15. The system was accepted for service in 1995.

Space surveillance

Space surveillance system is operated by a space-surveillance division of the 3rd Army. To monitor objects on low earth orbits and determines parameters of their orbits, the system uses the the early-warning radar network.

The space surveillance network also includes the Krona system at Zelenchukskaya in the North Caucasus, which includes dedicated X-band space surveillance radars. Another system of this type is being deployed near Nakhodka on the Far East.

To monitor objects on high-altitude orbits, the space-surveillance system uses optical observations. The main optical observation station, Okno, is located in Nurek, Tajikistan. Its telescopes allow detection of object at altitudes of up to 40,000 km. The station began operations in 1999. Space-surveillance tasks are also assigned to observatories of the Russian Academy of Sciences.