The loss by Russia of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan occurred as a result of not an astronomical increase in rent by official Baku, as is commonly believed, but American blackmail about plans to deploy new program like "Star Wars".

At the end of 2006, the administration of President George W. Bush announced the creation in four stages of a system of anti-missile defense (ABM) elements in Europe, which was supposed to protect European countries from nuclear missile threats from rogue countries Iran, Syria and even the distant DPRK.

The Russians have reasonably stated that this program is directed against the national security of Russia. And in principle they were right.

The Star Wars Mystery

According to the announced program, at the first stage, ships equipped with Aegis complexes and Standard-3 interceptor missiles have already been deployed in the Mediterranean. In addition, a missile defense radar was deployed in Turkey. At the second stage, by 2015, Washington expects to deploy mobile batteries with Standard-3 missiles to Romania; by 2018, they are supposed to be deployed in Poland.

Finally, by 2020, it was planned to put them into operation such systems that are capable of protecting the entire territory of NATO countries and from intercontinental ballistic missiles. Only the last stage of the missile defense system, which provides for the interception of potential enemy missiles at the initial stage of the flight, is currently estimated at $ 500 billion. If implemented, it will cover the entire territory of Russia and practically neutralize the strategic missile and space forces of the Russian Federation.

Is Russia capable of presenting an asymmetrical response to the Americans? Of course not. How the USSR could not do this in response to the "Star Wars" program announced in 1983 by US President Ronald Reagan. The Soviets, which began to lag behind in their power, were forced to reduce medium and short-range missiles and reduce threats against Western Europe and American military bases.

The new Bush program too frightened the Russian leadership, which understood that the country's military-technical and economic potential would not be able to keep up with a new arms race if it started.

US Mystery

Bargaining this time was the condition for narrowing the range of the Russian radar survey in almost all directions along the perimeter of the borders of the Russian Federation. In this sense, it becomes clear why the radar station in Gabala took the central place in the anti-missile game.

This station carried out surveillance in the vital space for the United States from the Indian Ocean to the vastness of North Africa, where events of a geopolitical scale had already unfolded. The technical data of the station speaks not only of its ability to track flying objects, as it is commonly believed.

The Gabala radar station, codenamed "Daryal", was put into operation in 1985 and provided detection of targets the size of a soccer ball at a distance of up to 6,000 km, and after modernization - 8,500 km. It has an increased measurement accuracy, high speed and bandwidth, noise immunity, the ability to detect and simultaneously track about 100 objects, including underwater ones. The station is not able to process information on its own, and works in conjunction with the centers of its reception and processing "Kvadrat" and "Shvertbot" near Moscow. In practice, this is a powerful intelligence structure capable of tracking the actions of the Americans throughout this space, which, of course, cannot be included in the plans of the latter.

The Kremlin has tried in every possible way to retain this important intelligence facility, even under American surveillance. It is no coincidence that on June 7, 2007, at the G8 summit in Germany, President Vladimir Putin offered the United States joint control of the station, which should have been a guarantee that Moscow is not monitoring American actions in the region. Putin said: Russia offers America to jointly use the capabilities of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan to conduct the necessary "anti-missile monitoring" (in particular, over Iran), and if Washington accepts this proposal, there is no need to deploy missile defense elements in Eastern European countries. This idea was rejected and the Russians, after tense negotiations, as subsequent events show, were forced to yield. The end in this dispute was put by the world financial crisis, which forced Moscow to abandon not only plans for an asymmetric response, but also to narrow down plans to re-equip the army with conventional weapons due to a catastrophic reduction in funds.

Anne Derse Mystery

The final point on this issue was set in the fall of 2011. This can be seen from the actions of the Azerbaijani leadership, which exactly a year ago raised the cost of renting the Gabala radar station from $ 7 million to $ 300 million. This step became a formal reason for the termination of the station's activities in the future. It is clear that official Baku could never put forward such a crazy condition for two reasons:

First, based on the capabilities of his potential, Aliyev could not go against the will of Moscow;

Second, the absence of a Russian military presence would sharply narrow Aliyev's maneuver between the United States and the Russian Federation and increase the influence of Washington, which insists on the demand for democratization, which Baku does not want. Both the Americans and the Russians needed a formal diplomatic excuse in the form of the prohibitive overstatement of the rent. The latter is more to save face.

An argument in favor of the version of the necessary narrowing of Russian intelligence capabilities is also evidenced by the fact that the Voronezh radar station in Armavir, located outside the Greater Caucasus Range, is not capable of replacing the station in Azerbaijan. “This is a weak station and its capabilities are significantly inferior to the Gabala one, although the Russians argue the opposite ... The Russians invested $ 1 billion in the modernization of the Gabala radar station, and only $ 70 million was spent on the station in Armavir. The range of the station in Armavir covers 2500 km, and Gabala - 8500 km ", WikiLeaks reported with reference to Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, who confessed about this on March 14, 2009 with US Ambassador to Baku Ann Derse.

From the dispatch of Ambassador Derse dated March 19 of this year. It can be seen that Moscow, following the proclamation of the American initiative to deploy a European missile defense system, conducted controversial negotiations, including the abandonment of the station in Gabala and the extension of the agreement in 2012. This indicated that the issue was always in the stage of intensive bargaining between the United States and the Russian Federation.

The Mystery of Erdogan

The station's fate was finally sealed on September 12, 2012, when the US National Research Council recommended White House and Congress abandon the fourth phase of the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe. "The fourth stage should be canceled, because it is not necessary for the defense of Europe, and it is less than optimal for the defense of the United States," concluded the authors of the report, which are experts from among retired military leaders, academics and former US administration officials.

The experts recommended moving the center of gravity of the fourth stage of missile defense, which is less costly, far to the East. NIS has advised, in addition to the Fort Greeley sites in Alaska and the Vandenberg sites in California, to establish another silo-based interceptor missile interceptor base in the continental United States. They propose to place another similar base in the northeastern part of the United States. Conclusion expert council meant that the Russians gave up the fight for Gabala in exchange for freezing the fourth stage of the American missile defense system in Europe.

On December 10, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced a not taken seriously explanation about the suspension of the operation of the Gabala radar station: at the negotiations preceding the closure of the station, it was demonstrated "readiness to continue cooperation with the Russian side," but it was not satisfied with the rent.

From the text of the statement it followed that the Russian Foreign Ministry on December 10 submitted to Azerbaijan a note on the suspension of the operation of the station in connection with the "Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Russian Federation on the status, principles and conditions of using the Gabala radar station. "The agreement on the lease of the radar station by Russia, signed in 2002, expires on December 24, 2012.

It is interesting that this decision of Russia was announced to the whole world not from Moscow, but from Baku, which confirms that the true rationale behind the decision of the fate of the radar station lies far beyond the borders of Azerbaijan.

On September 11, 2012, the second meeting of the Strategic Cooperation Council was held in Gabala high level between Azerbaijan and Turkey, which ended with the signing of seven documents. In terms of their significance, they did not particularly correspond to the high status of the meeting: on metrology, television partnership, rescue services, seed production and others. The meeting was previously planned in Baku, but was unexpectedly postponed to a place five steps from the Gabala radar station. This meeting, which took place almost simultaneously with the publication of the report of the US National Research Council on missile defense, became a symbolic message from Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that the military era of Russia in Azerbaijan is over.

Analytical Service Turan

Gabala radar station (radar) "Daryal" (Gabala-2, RO-7, object 754)
- one of the missile attack warning stations (EWS) created in the USSR to detect launches of land and sea ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as well as for continuous monitoring of outer space.
Construction was carried out since 1976, the unit took up combat duty in 1985.

The radar station in Gabala is designed to track ballistic missile launches from Asia and the Indian Ocean, as well as control space objects in the southern sector at a distance of up to 6,000 km.

The Russian military uses the Daryal radar station on the basis of an agreement between the two countries dated January 25, 2002. According to this document, the station is the property of Azerbaijan and has the status of an information and analytical center. The rental price is $ 7 million per year. Russia has pledged to use the radar only for "information and analytical purposes", as well as to share with Azerbaijan some of the information received. The agreement was signed for ten years.

Number of staff service personnel Radar station - about 900 military personnel and 200 civilian specialists.

According to a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Center for International Security of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) Arbatov, the Gabala radar station is exactly the station that makes it possible, literally a few seconds after a rocket take off, not only to detect a launch, which allows satellites from a geostationary orbit , or can track the missile trajectory from the first seconds, transmit data in advance for interception at the desired point.
www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/qabala.htm
psiterror.ru/p/content/content.php?content.82.8
Russia is interested in extending the lease of a radar station in Gabala from Azerbaijan and intends to modernize it. This was stated by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
"We need this station. We would like to modernize it, make it completely different, with different parameters. We have an understanding of how to do this," Serdyukov said. The station lease expires in 2012. Russia wants to extend the lease until 2025.
The radar station in Gabala belongs to the missile attack warning system. According to experts, the station is an important element Russian system ABM, providing early warning of possible missile strikes from a southern direction.
www.utro.ru/news/2011/11/18/1011688.shtml
In 2013, the radar station was transferred to Azerbaijan, Russian military personnel left the garrison, and all equipment was dismantled and taken to Russia.

MOSCOW, Dec 10 - RIA Novosti.Russia, said in a statement released on Monday by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, on whose territory the radar station is located.

Gabala radar station of "Daryal" type 5N79 (RO 7, object 754) is one of the essential elements missile attack warning systems (SPRN) of the former USSR and now Russia.

Located in the area of ​​the Zaragan village of the Gabala region of Azerbaijan. The radar is located at an altitude of 680 meters above sea level, higher than all settlements located in the scanning radiation zone.

Intended for:

detection of ballistic missiles on flight paths within the radar coverage areas;

tracking and measuring the coordinates of detected targets and interference carriers;

calculation of motion parameters of tracked targets based on radar measurements;

defining the type of goals;

issuing information about the target and jamming environment in automatic mode.

Radar composition:

command and measurement center;

transmitting radio engineering center;

repair and calibration base;

communication and information transmission center.

Lead developer of JSC "RTI named after A.L. Mints", Moscow. Commissioned in 1983. Operates in continuous duty mode.

The radar station controls the territories of Iran, Turkey, China, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Australia, as well as most of the African countries, the islands of the Indian and Atlantic oceans.

A distinctive feature of the station is the ability not only to detect a missile launch in a record short time, but also from the first seconds of launch to track the missile trajectory and transmit data in advance to intercept at the desired point.

Radar type "Daryal" has a phased antenna array of the receiving center 100x100 m (almost 4000 cross vibrators) and the aperture of the phased array of the transmitting center measuring 40x40 m (1260 powerful transmitting replaceable modules with an output pulse power of each 300 kW), provides target detection with an RCS of the order of 0, 1 m at a distance of up to 6000 km in a field of view of 110 degrees in azimuth. Differs in increased accuracy of measurement of parameters, high speed and bandwidth, noise immunity, the ability to detect and simultaneously track about 100 objects.

During the Iran-Iraq war, the radar detected 139 combat launches of Iraqi Scud missiles.

The Daryal object is a 17-storey building 87 m high. Its creators were awarded the USSR State Prize.

The number of maintenance personnel is about 900 military personnel and more than 200 civilian specialists (the limit is set by an intergovernmental agreement - 1.5 thousand people).

After Azerbaijan gained independence and the radar station became its property, Russia continued to use the station. In accordance with a bilateral agreement signed in 2002, the Gabala radar station has the status of an information and analytical center and is the property of Azerbaijan. Leased to Russia for a period of 10 years. The annual rent under the 2002 agreement is $ 7 million. The agreement expires on December 24, 2012.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced negotiations with Azerbaijan to extend the lease of the Gabala radar station until 2025. According to media reports, Azerbaijan intends to sharply increase the price for the radar lease. One of the conditions of Azerbaijan is also an increase in the personnel of the Azerbaijani military at the radar and the transfer of catering, trade and other services to local residents in the military camp at the station.

According to Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Russia is interested in maintaining the same rental price, but at the same time wants to sharply reduce the territory occupied by the station. The station will be completely rebuilt; with its new appearance, a large amount of communications will not be needed. By 2020, it is planned to build a new generation radar station in its place (

Employees of the Daryal radar station (radar) located in Azerbaijan's Gabala, which is being transferred to rotational service, wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin asking him to protect their rights. The document was signed by several dozen wives of Russian officers, who from August 1, by decision of the leadership, must remain on the street - none of the officers has either permanent or official housing in Russia.

“We do not demand anything impossible, we are just looking for a human relationship, a clear explanation of what is happening and what will happen to our families,” the women wrote to Putin.

According to the text of the letter, a copy of which is at the disposal of Izvestia, before August 1, officers and sergeants serving at the station must independently take their wives and children to Russia. Those who cannot do this were asked to write reports for transfer to another duty station or resign from the army.

“An explanation of how to organize the move has not been received by the unit to this day, inclusive,” the letter says. But work has been organized to liquidate the kindergarten and the Russian sector in the local school, in which the officers 'children studied, and their wives worked as teachers, the officers' wives say.

The letter emphasizes that it is not clear what to do with children in families where both parents are military personnel. In addition, the parents of the wives of some Russian officers do not live in Russia, but in other CIS countries.

The Daryal Gabala radar station provides Russia with control over the airspace of the entire Middle East, China, India and the Indian Ocean up to the northern coast of Australia. The station lease expires on December 24th.

In the leadership of the Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO), to which the station in Gabala is subordinate, Izvestia was told that shift method was chosen for the sake of economy.

- In order to somehow reduce the rental cost, it was proposed to minimize the number of rented objects and refuse to use the military camp. It was proposed to settle the officers in the housing stock on the territory of the station itself - there are former barracks there. For a rotational method, such housing is quite suitable, - explained the interlocutor of Izvestia.

In addition, the representative of the East Kazakhstan region stressed that the officers in Gabala "earn decent money and can afford not only to move to Russia, but also to buy housing."

— average salary serviceman - € 4 thousand. Minimum - € 2.5 thousand. For civilian specialists - about the same. With such an income, it is not difficult to find housing, - the representative of the command of the East Kazakhstan region is sure.

At the same time, the command of the unit claims that they share the indignation of the officers and their wives, but they cannot do anything.

- V staffing table there will be no kindergarten employees, the wives of officers who worked as teachers in the Russian sector of the school are actually listed in other positions, and we are forced to prohibit them from such combination. But we are doing everything possible to help those who cannot live like this go on leaving: we give leave for 10 days "for personal reasons." During this time, it is quite possible to take the family to their parents or settle outside the military camp - for example, rent an apartment in Gabala, - explained a high-ranking officer of the unit.

He also stressed that officers who have nowhere to take their families out can file a transfer report at any time, but many are kept high salaries... However, from the beginning of the year, out of almost 200 officers in the unit, a little more than 140 remained. At the same time, he stressed that after the transfer to the rotational method, officers without wives would be difficult to keep from drunkenness and debauchery.

- The family still serves as a serious deterrent from addictions, - said the officer.

According to the officers' wives, one third of the women who remained in the unit are “in a position” or are caring for children of 1.5-3 years old. More than 100 work at the radar station as civilian personnel. From time to time they are offered to “quit for on their own", But they do not take vacancies.

In the Russian section of the local school, 150 children studied, who, when moving, will have to urgently arrange for other educational establishments... At the same time, about 20 officers with their families are "at the disposal", that is, they have already been removed from their posts and are waiting for permanent apartments to resign from the army.

“We believe in the effectiveness of the reforms carried out in the army, aimed at strengthening the defense capability of our state, but we believe that they should not adversely affect our families,” the officers' wives wrote to Putin.

In the reception of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Izvestia was confirmed that the situation "evokes sympathy," but they explained that the minister was now on a business trip.

• April 9th, 2012, 06:43 pm

Original taken from korotchenko_i в Armenian alternative to Gabala radar station - Igor Korotchenko

Armenia's radar proposal is a real alternative for the Russian Federation

The Russian Federation can start negotiations with Armenia on the construction of a radar, if it cannot agree with Azerbaijan on a lease in Gabala.

Russia and Azerbaijan have been negotiating for a long time on the terms of renting a radar station in Gabala. The agreement signed in 2002 expires in December this year. In this connection, Russia is trying to agree on the prolongation of its action. It is expected that the results of the negotiations will be announced in the summer.

Wherein Igor Korotchenko, Chief Editor magazine "National Defense", fully admits Russia’s acceptance of Armenia’s proposal.

“For some unknown reason, Azerbaijan has suddenly significantly increased the rent for the use of the Russian station in Gabala,” said the expert to Finam FM. - Such demands from Azerbaijan are unrealistic and absolutely do not correspond to the spirit of Russian-Azerbaijani relations. In my opinion, they are not based on real financial and economic calculations. In these conditions, the proposal of Armenia can be a very real alternative ”.

However, the Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan stated about the readiness of the state to provide the territory of Armenia for the construction of a Russian radar: “I think that there may even be advantages here, since Armenia is a mountainous country. The coverage could be wider, "Lenta quotes the prime minister with reference to Kommersant.

• March 15th, 2012, 11:34 am

Azerbaijan's demands to increase the rent for Russia's use of an early warning radar station located in Gabala more than forty times - from $ 7 million to $ 300 million - surprisingly coincided with the aggravation of the situation around Syria and Iran. At the same time, negotiations between Russia and the United States on European missile defense reached an impasse - this was announced on February 29 by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was in Kaliningrad at a meeting of the Interdepartmental working group on cooperation with NATO in the field of missile defense.

And this gives a reason to see in the actions of official Baku not only a rough economic interest, but also a kind of policy, at the same time - clearly oriented. Yes, there were experts who immediately saw only an economic component in Azerbaijan's financial claims. As if the bargaining is actually going around the distribution of certain gas flows, and Gabala itself is only a lever of pressure on Moscow in this dispute. As you know, Azerbaijan does not exclude its participation in the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project bypassing Russia. The pipe will allow transporting gas from Turkmenistan to the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is a competitor to the South Stream pipeline.

However, official Baku rejects the gas background and says that the rent should be carried out taking into account the real value of the radar in the Russian aerospace defense system. For some reason, they are sure that this value is very great. Faraj Guliyev, a member of the parliamentary committee of the Milli Majlis on defense and security, said that if the Gabala radar station will continue to be leased to Russia, then this should be done taking into account the real price. “I believe that the Azerbaijani side is completely right if it sets certain conditions in negotiations with Russia and asks for a high price for the lease of this facility,” the parliamentarian stressed. At the same time, he said that Baku understands the need for this station to function as a military facility for Russia in the region.

The piquancy of the situation is that Russia itself has long doubted the need to spend millions of dollars annually on renting a radar station in Gabala and millions on its maintenance.

Raising the rent to $ 300 million will make the operation of the radar station in the Transcaucasus truly onerous, unprofitable in all respects - economic and military.

We must remember the history. In the USSR, in the early 1970s, a very powerful and effective strategic missile defense system began to be created. One of its main components was to be powerful over-the-horizon radar systems that were part of unified system about an early missile attack. Huge radars were built at various points in the USSR, which could monitor airspace at a distance of thousands of kilometers.

Place of radar type "Daryal" 5N79 on the territory of the Azerbaijan SSR in the region settlement Gabala was identified at a time when the Shah's Iran was the most loyal US ally in the region. Then there was a real danger of deploying in this country - at least - American operational-tactical missiles with nuclear warheads. And the radar station in Gabala was aimed mainly at controlling the aerospace over Iran, although its capabilities made it possible to conduct surveillance at a range of 8000 kilometers in the sector from Burma to Central Africa. The first stone in the foundation of the future radar station in 1976 was laid by the then first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, the father of the current president of the country, Ilham Aliyev. The station was commissioned in 1985.

After the collapse of the USSR, the national missile defense system began to rapidly decline. Physically preserved, but in fact, two powerful radars in Sevastopol and Mukachevo in Ukraine were taken out of Moscow's control. An over-the-horizon radar station was blown up in Skrunda, Latvia. In reality, Russia has lost effective control over the aerospace sector in the most missile-hazardous areas.

Surprisingly, in the "dashing" nineties, we quietly began work on the creation of fundamentally new radar systems for missile attack warning and space control. A series of new over-the-horizon radar stations of high factory readiness of a modular type was created. From ready-made blocks, like a children's toy "Lego", it was possible to form any appearance of the radar for a specific task, to increase or, conversely, to reduce the energy potential and resolution of the radars. The creation of over-the-horizon radar systems, which had the code "Product 77Ya6" with a different letter designation - M, DM, VP - can be considered a revolutionary breakthrough in strategic missile defense, and now in the aerospace defense system. The West did not expect such a technological breakthrough from Russia.

Modular radar stations, called "Voronezh", are being built quite quickly on pre-prepared sites the size of a football field. If the radar station in Gabala was built for almost ten years, now the station, even with the best characteristics can be built in two years. And in the near future, the appearance of completely unique mobile multifunctional adaptive over-the-horizon radars of the "Mars" type is expected. These radars can be very quickly relocated to any missile-hazardous direction, placed on sea ​​vessels... Voronezh, not yielding to stations of the Daryal type, consumes incomparably less electricity - only 0.7 MW. For comparison: the station in Gabala requires 50 MW, and its maintenance there really costs a pretty penny.

At present, the "Voronezh-M" missile attack warning system in the Leningrad region is on alert. Two Voronezh-DM stations are being commissioned - not far from Armavir and in the Kaliningrad region. This year it is planned to put into trial operation the Voronezh-VP radar complex in the Irkutsk region. Construction of similar stations should begin in the Komi Republic and in the Murmansk Region.

With the advent of the "Mars" -type radar, the problem of airspace control at any point in Russia, including those close to Azerbaijan, will disappear altogether.

That is, the need for the Gabala radar station will be lost naturally.

Indeed, why does Russia need a radar station that controls the airspace over Iran and is able to detect the launch of even the smallest missile from the territory of this country and flights over it of all types? aircraft? Iran does not threaten us with aggression, it does not brandish its nuclear missile club over our heads. And the US missile systems on the territory of this country, of course, cannot be deployed.

The only ones who should be interested in preserving the Gabala radar station are the United States and Israel. And even then only if appropriate agreements on the exchange of information on a possible missile attack are concluded between these countries and Russia. Moreover, the agreements are mutually beneficial. In 2007, Russia offered the United States to jointly use the Gabala radar station and abandon the deployment of its missile defense elements in Europe. Since the Americans are afraid of an Iranian missile strike, we were ready to give them a guarantee that the strike would not come as a surprise. As the then-President Vladimir Putin noted, "this station covers the entire area, which arouses the suspicion of our American colleagues."

Washington considered Moscow's proposal and refused. And now Azerbaijan’s demarche has only confirmed: the United States, of course, does not fear a missile strike from Iran.

The task of the European missile defense system is completely different - total control of the airspace over the territory of the Russian Federation.

It can be assumed that the coercion of our country to liquidate the radar station in Gabala is due to the fact that neither the United States nor Israel want Moscow - if the "X" hour happens - in no case knew where, where and which missiles were actually coming from. will actually fly in this region.

That is the whole secret of the "Euro-asking Punchinelle" in Azerbaijan's Gabala.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov spent the beginning of last week in Azerbaijan. The topic of his meetings and conversations with the head of the military department of this Transcaucasian republic, Colonel-General Safar Abiyev, with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, as well as trips to the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, to the Gabala village near Mingechevir, were the conditions for extending the lease terms by the local military department of the local the radar station of the Missile Attack Warning System (SPRN radar).

The Daryal station or Gabala radar station, also known as Lyaki-2, was built in these places back in 1985. She went in and goes in domestic System missile attack warnings. Radar type "Daryal" has a phased antenna array of the receiving center 100 x 100 m (almost 4000 cross-vibrators) and the aperture of the phased array of the transmitting center measuring 40 x 40 m (1260 powerful transmitting replaceable modules with an output pulse power of 300 kW each), provides target detection with EPR of the order of 0.1 m at a distance of up to 6000 km in a field of view of 110 degrees in azimuth.

The Gabala radar station is distinguished by increased accuracy of parameter measurement, high speed and throughput, noise immunity, the ability to detect and simultaneously track about 100 objects. It operates in the meter wavelength range and controls, according to some publications, the air and outer space over Turkey, Iraq, Iran, other countries of the Middle East and even India, as well as most of the Indian Ocean, including the northern coast of Australia.

After the collapse Soviet Union The Daryal radar station became the property of Azerbaijan and, after lengthy negotiations with Baku, was leased by the government of the republic in 2002 to the Space Forces of the Russian Federation for 10 years with an annual payment of $ 7 million. About 1,400 of our officers and civilian specialists are now working there.

Moreover, in addition to the rent, Russia pays with the energy system of Azerbaijan for the electricity used and provides jobs for local citizens, thanks to which the mountain village of Gabala is today one of the most comfortable in the republic.

At the end of 2012, the lease expires, and Azerbaijan is not opposed to concluding a new agreement, but with more high price for the services provided. The figure sounds like $ 15 million. The reasons for the increase in the cost of rent are such as receiving compensation for material damage incurred by Baku due to the impossibility of developing tourism in this mountainous part of the country, the rise in the cost of electricity and even ... ecological problems, which brings high-frequency radio emission from the station.

We will not comment on these claims. Let's just say that the early warning system has become a "golden hook" for our southern neighbors, which can be used to pull a variety of preferences from the Russian military. For example, play the Dariala transfer card on loan to the United States. This is nothing as understood knowledgeable people that if the Russians leave here, they will take with them the most valuable thing that is here - software radar work, without which it is just a pile of concrete and metal.

The Americans also understand this. Moreover, if they come to Gabala (let's imagine this for a moment purely virtually), then Tehran, Azerbaijan's neighbor, which is home to almost twice as many Azerbaijanis as in the republic itself, will hardly like it. And thus spoiling relations with Iran for Baku is more expensive for itself. But local authorities by playing the Gabala card, they raise their geopolitical image in the eyes of the local population.

So Baku received the S-300PMU anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, not least due to the fact that it has Gabala. And, despite the formidable, frankly, very cocky, if not aggressive statements about Yerevan, Moscow's military ally, Anatoly Serdyukov nevertheless flew in to negotiate the extension of the lease of the Daryal early warning system. He even proposes to increase the quota for the training of Azerbaijani military personnel in Russian military universities (interestingly, in the same ones where Armenian military personnel study?), Promises to send a group of experts so that within two weeks they can agree and resolve all the issues raised by the Azerbaijani side at the talks in Gabala.

No, we are not against the Azerbaijani political and military leadership, like the leadership of any self-respecting state, defending its national interests in negotiations with the Russian military, seeking and finding its own benefits from military-technical cooperation with Moscow. In their place, as they say, everyone would do this.

We are not opposed to the Russian side making certain concessions to its partners during negotiations with Baku on Gabala. After all, we are close and very close neighbors who have lived in the same “communal apartment” for more than two centuries. Almost brothers, one might say. But still, nevertheless, nevertheless ...

We must also defend our national interests, our geopolitical, economic and military benefits in the same way as our allies and partners in the CIS do. Russia should not be a cash cow. For every concession, for every preference to an ally and a partner, we must receive an adequate concession and preference so that our cooperation does not look like a donation on the one hand and dependence on the other. Someone really needs help, while someone can pay in real money or provide geopolitical support.

In the end, we need Gabala, including because of the ongoing dispute-dialogue with the United States and NATO over the European missile defense system. But it is worth remembering that it has already been put on experimental combat duty near Armavir. new radar Voronezh-M high-performance missile warning system. And it can happen as it happened with the Ukrainian early warning systems in Mukachevo and Nikolaev, near Sevastopol - the orange government bargained for a long time with Moscow over the cost of their lease, even turned the radar into objects space agency Ukraine, offered the US and NATO to take them on their own ... It didn't work out. It turned out - neither to myself, nor to people. Now no stations, no millions of dollars in state treasury for their rental and operation.
Who is this lesson, let everyone think for himself.

/Based on materials nvo.ng.ru and arms-expo.ru /