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********************* Russia Aerospace Guide *********************
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No. 2, May 1994
This document may be copied only in its
entirety with no changes. No fee may be charged for distribution.
***** Content *****
Historians meeting
Thirty Years Together: A Chronology of US-Soviet Space Cooperation
"The International Missile Bazaar"
AIAA Meetings on CIS Aerospace Industry
Fly MiG's
MiG's etc.
Information Service for Newly Independent States
Yuri Karash -- almost a cosmonaut - at American Univ.
What about Red Mercury?
"Seize the Moment"
BBC Monitoring
Astronauts and Cosmonauts
Russian Flying Saucers
Target America: The Soviet Union and the Strategic Arms Race,
1945-1964
Submarine Detection from Space: A Study of Russian
Capabilities
Tower of Secrets
***** News *****
Historians meeting
The National Air and Space Museum and Museum of America
History are planning a conference for scholars of the arms race
and space race on May 11 1994 at 9:00 AM at the International
Center behind the Smithsonian castle building, Washington DC.
The agenda includes Peter Gorin, Stephen Zaloga, John Pike,
Alex Roland, Gennady Gorelik, Paul Josephson, Stan Norris and
Lynn Eden all speaking on the space race and arms race and ends
with a discussion of the planned exhibit on the space and arms
race at the Smithsonian. No fee. Contact Jo Ann Bailey, 202-357-
2828.
(Remember that the exhibit of Russian industry is at the DC
Convention Center that same week including aerospace
exhibitors, see RAG #1)
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Thirty Years Together: A Chronology of US-Soviet Space Cooperation
NASA CR 185707, by David Portee, Feb. 1993 (his survey of Mir
hardware heritage is due out by June, details in a future issue).
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
"The International Missile Bazaar"
Subtitled: The New Suppliers Network, Edited by William Potter
and Harlan Jencks, Westview Press, 1994, 340 pp. All about
missile poliferation in 11 third world nations along with
organizations and suppliers. I've only read a chapter of this book
but it looks great, an excellent reference about third world
nations ballistic missile efforts around the world past and
present, all very well referenced.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
AIAA Meetings on CIS Aerospace Industry
The PPC Newly Independent States Subcommittee US/Russia
Aerospace held its last meeting on Feb. 17 in Washington DC. The
Subcommittee was formed to help industry/academia/political
circles with the details of doing aerospace business in the CIS by
hosting knowledgeable speakers who share their experiences.
Meetings are open to those interested, you need not be a AIAA
member. The next meeting will be held as a session of the AIAA
Global Air & Space conference on July 18. The group started
informally but has grown to standing room only crowds. Meetings
are held generally every 3-4 months. The Feb. meeting featured
James Harford reporting on his historical research into the work
of Korolev, NASA Deputy Ass. Admin. John Schumacher reported on
the development of US/Russia agreements on space cooperation,
Anatoliy Shishkin Ex.VP of Russian-American Services spoke on
defense conversion, and Randall Morgan chairman of American
Services for Eurasian Trade spoke on trade and conditions
effecting business in the CIS.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Fly MiG's
A Russian company offers flights on Russian fighters up to the
MiG-29. The Basis: Flight Research Institute (LII) in Zhukovskii
near Moscow. For help in accommodation, visas, other services.
Contact Charles Radley, Transquest Co.
MiG's etc.
MiG's etc. is a Florida based company also offering tours to
Russia for flights in MiG's also. Flights in the IL-28
weightlessness trainer 28-30 seconds of low G fun are also
available. They have been profiled on CNN numerous times in the
last several months.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Information Service for Newly Independent States
US Dept. of Commerce has a bulletin, database and FAX service
for news on the latest emerging business opportunities in the
former USSR. Also a Russian defense industry directory is
available. Voice: 202-482-4655, FAX: 202-482-2293. (Av. Week,
4/4/94, p. 19)
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Yuri Karash -- almost a cosmonaut - at American Univ.
A finalist in the journalist in space project, he is currently
working on a doctorate in space policy at American University,
spent a few months helping cosmonauts training for shuttle
missions last year at JSC. (LA Times, 6/7/93)
Contributors- Glen Swanson and Rex Hall
What about Red Mercury?
Okay, this is really a nuclear weapons question and a little off
track for the Guide, but you've all probably heard the stories
about 'Red Mercury' in Russia. On April 13, a British documentary
on the Channel 4 Dispatches program looked into the mess again.
They collected some data and showed it to former leaders in the
field Ted Taylor, Sam Cohen who say the Russians may have
made a major advance in very small fusion weapons. Does 'Red
Mercury' have anything to do with it? Has all the confusion over
the last few years about the existence of a 'Red Mercury', other
than paint pigment, really been a disinformation program to stall
export of a break through in technology? Very strange. Can
anyone who saw the documentary make any observations?
{"Experts doubt red mercury", AP, London}
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
"Seize the Moment"
by Helen Sharman and Christopher Priest, Foreword by Arthur C.
Clarke CBE. Published in London, UK, by Victor Gollancz,
October 1993 (So far as I know Seize the Moment is not
published in USA or anywhere outside the UK. )
Contributor - Charles F. Radley,
http://rogue.northwest.com/~charles
BBC Monitoring
If your interested in the latest translations and want a different
presentation than FBIS or JPRS, try the BBC's. I made a brief
comparison of FBIS and the BBC's and found some commonality
to the Space sections, but the FBIS is prone to throwing
interesting bits into sections other than the space section (like
international relations, etc..) and the amount of abstract differs
between the two, I can't say one is better than the other so judge
for yourself. Write to: BBC Monitoring, Marketing Dept.,
Caversham Park, Reading, RG4 8TZ. Price in the UK is £93 and
mailing is usually weekly. Thanks to Rex Hall for providing BBC's
info.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Astronauts and Cosmonauts
There is a new Astronauts and Cosmonauts Biographical and
Statistical Data book (Revised Aug. 1993) and published in March
1994 by the Library of Congress.
Contributor - Rex Hall
Russian Flying Saucers
A small item in the London Sunday Times (4/24/94, p. 5) mentions
a 'flying saucer' design being developed by presumable the
Saratov plant. Its really a lifting body design as shown in my
crude sketch below. An unmanned prototype has been flown and
another prototype with a payload of 2000 kg. is to be finished in
a few months. A photo of the next vehicle is shown while under
construction, it appears to be a couple of meters tall. Engines
are to be AL-34's. Called generically the Ekip, a manned version
'L3' is planned to be 36 m by 25 m and carry 400 people or 40,000
kg., with 10 km altitude and 10,000 km range. Take-off roll, or
skid, on air cushions on land or water is estimated at 500 m.
Another version 82 m long is projected also.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Reviews
Target America: The Soviet Union and the Strategic Arms Race,
1945-1964, By Steven J. Zaloga, Presidio Press. 1993, 335 pp
Review by Dennis Newkirk
The lengthly subtitle of this book indicates a lot about the
book itself. It is specific, methodical and indicative of long
term research into the topic. The book describes in brief form
important facts about the design, development and politics
surrounding the strategic weapons systems developed in the
USSR from about 1945 to 1964.
This includes the atomic bomb, background into earlier Soviet
atomic research and its intelligence victories in the US, and the
hydrogen bomb development in about the first 100 pages. The
book then goes into the delivery systems such as strategic
bombers, ballistic missiles, submarine launched missiles, and
cruise missiles and the capabilities of those systems which
figure heavily into the early days of the space race and the cold
war. The First Chief Directorate which ultimately directed many of
the projects and its evil leader Lavrentiy Beria figures heavily
into the story of many of these projects. The book includes a
graphic description of Beria's eventual execution which can invoke
both horror at the cold event and elation at the end of a
undoubtedly horrible era.
Zaloga has written 30 books and many articles on Soviet
weapons development in publications like Jane's Soviet
Intelligence Review, and currently is a writer and producer of the
Firepower series on The Discovery Channel, and the
documentary Operation Desert Storm on the Arts and
Entertainment Network. Target America is not purely an
academic work, but is a very enjoyable readable book with many
stories about the personalities which were all so important to the
Soviet weapons development process of the period. These same
individuals, Korolev, Glushko, Keldysh, Chelomey, Yangel, and
Ustinov all contributed greatly to the Soviet space program in the
same period.
The most memorable story of the book is about the test of a new
atomic bomb design in which the bomb fizzled. That event
caused the chief of the test center, Arzamas-16, who was
observing the test with Beria promptly to have a heart attack. He
survived, but faced Beria's wrath for the failure as everyone did
in those times. Zaloga then supposes, in the quote of the book,
"Perhaps Beria was satisfied that Zernov's heart attack was
adequate demonstration of the fear in which he [Beria] was held
by his subordinates.". While in a few places it is difficult to
tell where the facts leave off and the authors story telling
ability comes to life, they are worth it because Zaloga's stories
are too good to pass up.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Submarine Detection from Space: A Study of Russian
Capabilities, By Hung P. Hguyen, Naval Institute Press. 1993, 79
pp.
Review by Dennis Newkirk
This book really surprised me in a couple ways. The one fault
of the book is that the author has little knowledge of manned
Soviet spacecraft (Salyut 7 and Mir) which he mentions a few
times, in relation to possible tests of a theoretical space radar
to detect submarines. Its clear that he has no idea of how such a
device could or could not be installed and tested on the stations.
I am aware of no photographic evidence of unknown radar antennas
on those stations. Although not impossible, I think its unlikely
that any were tested except perhaps on Kosmos 1443, 1669 or
1686.
The good news is that the rest of the book is a fascinating
reconstruction of almost exclusively Russian sources about the
technology and state of the art of submarine detection from
space. There are a lot of "maybe's" and "could be's" in the book
when theorizing about Russian capabilities but the theories are
interesting enough to warrant reading the book. In addition the
last quarter of the book examines the effect of the capability of
real-time detection of submerged sub's would have on Naval
strategy.
This culminates with the linking of the construction of the big
Russian aircraft carriers to a plan to forward base Russian SLBM
subs nearer US SLBM subs in the days prior to a theoretical
conflict with the USA, with the carriers providing the necessary
protection and increased ASW capabilities. The purpose would
be to make a very quick preemptive strike using Russian SLBM's
against the USA's SLBM's in the hope that a nuclear and
conventional fight at sea could be restricted to a sea battle and
not escalate into an all out nuclear exchange.
The idea is that the countries would be hesitant to launch land
based assets against targets since that would open up the
homelands as valid targets for preemptive strikes and retaliation.
The hope was that a conflict might be drawn out and negotiable
before bringing land based assets into the fight and thus give
Russia a more feasible alternative to an all out nuclear exchange
with the USA. Well, its an interesting idea to entertain and its
certainly more comfortable to consider with the better
international relations these days.
The author was a researcher at the Center for Naval Analysis
and has written in Proceedings, Orbis and Parameters. The
books is not for casual reading and is written in very concise
academic style. Its a little pricey for its size but I don't think
you'll find anything else like it.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Tower of Secrets, By Victor Sheymov, Naval Institute Press.
1993, 420 pp.
Review by Dennis Newkirk
Former KGB officer Sheymov describes his experiences
working for the KGB in this highly entertaining book. Tower of
Secrets describes his years working for he KGB and some
stories about his work for TsNII-50 before he joined the KGB.
Since those are the stories of interest here I will concentrate on
them.
His work included devising a systems of statistically
compensating for the relative motion of a reconnaissance
satellites cameras to the Earth, devised guidance methods for an
ASAT weapon, and worked on methods for jamming possible US
direct satellite TV broadcasts into the USSR.
He also talks some about working at the institute and things
like security measures, using material in the US open press. The
rest of the book is concerned with his education in the KGB and
his work as a troubleshooter for cryptography security problems in
the KGB. As his experienced the good life as a privileged KGB
agent contrasted with the life of the common folk, and grew
familiar with the abuse of power within the party, he became
disenchanted with his position, but because of his knowledge
became trapped with no way out. No way except for defection.
The story ends with his successful defection and arrival in the
USA with his family. The book is very entertaining and amplifies
the inequalities in the USSR between those specially privileged
and empowered by the corrupt and politically vicious CPSU.
Contributor - Dennis Newkirk
Wanted/Questions/Corrections
· Anyone with the Krylia Rodiny #11, 1993 article on the lunar
program please contact the Guide at the address below.
· Private nuclear weapons history researcher looking a copy of
Academician Kurchatov by P. Astashenkov, Mir Publishers -
Outstanding Soviet Scientist Series. Anyone have a copy they
can part with?
· I am writing a monograph (40 page booklet) on Soviet manned
spacecraft for model builders and artists. This booklet will
document the external configuration, using scale drawings, of all
Soyuz variants (Zond, early Soyuz, ASTP, Salyut ferries, Mir
ferries, Progress, etc.), the Salyuts, and Mir. A second volume
will deal with their manned lunar program, space planes, and
miscellaneous unmanned vehicles. These booklets will differ from
other publications in that the emphasis will be on physical
appearance and detailed differences between the various
spacecraft. I am in need of the raw data to determine such
differences, particularly drawings and photos. I could also use
volunteers to produce such drawings for possible inclusion in the
monograph. Any leads as to the existence of such illustrations
already in electronic format (preferable MacDraw or PICT formats,
but I'm not fussy) would also be appreciated. Contact Mike
Mackowski, 7714 Aragorn Ct., Hanover, MD 21076. Home 410-
519-0017, work: 301-464-7400. E-mail: mackowski@apt.mdc.com
· Contributor Charles Radley will be presenting a paper at the
1994 ISDC on Memorial day weekend in Toronto and invites any
readers attending the conference to contact him there at the
Regal Constellation Hotel near the airport. His contact info is
printed under "Seize the Moment" on page 1-2.
· Last issues address and number for Delphic Associates is no
longer valid. I just saw one of the reports for sale in a
bookstore so they are still available but I don't have new contact
info.
· Anyone interested in attending an informal meeting of
Soviet/Russian space researchers at the launch of the shuttle Mir
docking mission in 1995 (May?) please contact Dennis Newkirk at
the address below. My preference is to keep this to an informal
meeting lasting the rest of the day after or before the launch at
a nearby hotel, preferably one with a good restaurant. A date will
not be set, this only applies to the actual launch day regardless
of any delays. This is only a tentative plan, other ideas welcome.
Contact the Guide at the address below.
Contributions
The objective of the Guide is to put professional and amateur
Russian aerospace researchers and writers in touch with each other
and the wide array of atypical information sources available about
past and present events. As researchers uncover sources they can
make the source known to the rest of the community and are
credited with providing the info. If you find a good book, or an
article about Russian aerospace outside the main stream US space
press (Space News, Aviation Week, Final Frontier, Air & Space,
etc.) write up a brief description of the item and send it to the
Guide. If you are looking for specific information send in your
questions to be listed to other researchers. Please include
contact information, if specified the contact info will be
withheld. Please send news releases, abstracts of articles, new or
noteworthy old book reviews, interviews, conference reports, news
and other information related to the study of USSR and Russian
aerospace and related cold war, military and political events you
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Internet: issguide@home.com
Submissions via e-mail encouraged. Mail submissions should be on
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Only as a last resort send hard copies or xerox's.
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