| Tselina-O | ||
From 1965 to 1967 two dedicated ELINT systems were tested by the Soviet Union: Tselina and US. Both were routinely operated. The Ministry of Defense could not decide on a single system. The Navy used radio intelligence US-P and US-A variants. Tselina was developed into two systems: Tselina-O for general observations and Tselina-D for detailed observations. TsNII-108 GKRE (Zaslavskiy) developed the payload while V M Kovtunenko of OKB-586 build the satellite and launch vehicle. From 1965 to 1967 two dedicated ELINT systems were tested by the Soviet Union: Tselina and US. Both were routinely operated. The Ministry of Defense could not decide on a single system. The Navy used radio intelligence US-P and US-A variants. Tselina was developed into two systems: Tselina-O for general observations and Tselina-D for detailed observations. TsNII-108 GKRE (Zaslavskiy) developed the payload while V M Kovtunenko of OKB-586 build the satellite and launch vehicle. The first Tselina-O was launched by a Kosmos-3M in 1970. Although the Tselina-O was accepted for military service in 1971, delays in payload development and weight growth of the Tselina-D resulted in the whole Tselina system not being operational until 1976. Tselina-O was in use for 15 years and 60 launches. Constant improvement resulted in Tselina-O being abandoned in 1984 and all systems being put on Tselina-D. Reliability of space systems was an issue with the military, and Tselina-O represented a particular problem. Due to urgency to deploy the system, there was not time to develop an adequate technical basis for first generation systems. The Tselina system of M E Zaslavskiy has been cited as a particular case in point. The availability of the system could not be guaranteed due to its developmental status. The classified nature of the work also hampered improvements. Only in the 1970's were reliability problems solved. Tselina-O had 10 high frequency reception channels. The Tselina-D and -O spacecraft were operated simultaneously to maximize results. The Tselina system not only localized and classified radio emitters but also characterized their functional regimes. It also characterized command traffic from military units, allowing targeting of those units by photo reconnaissance satellites. Typical orbit: 525 km circular orbit, 74 deg inclination. Associated Launch Vehicle: Kosmos 11K65M. Tselina-O Chronology
Bibliography and Further Reading
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