As World War II came to an end, Soviet and Western officials scrambled to spot Nazi rockets and Nazi scientists. In May 1946, the Soviet Union established a new rocket test group outside Moscow, in part to experiment with the first. Nazi V-2 rockets.
In many ways, the Kapustin Yar line is the birthplace of the Soviet program. The V-2 tests stimulated the progression of locally manufactured rockets that put the first Soviet satellites into orbit.
Seventy-seven years after the first captured V-2 took off from Kapustin Yar, the sprawling expanse (3,000 surface miles, according to a U. S. Central Intelligence Agency assessment from the 1990s) is a target in Russia’s broader war against Ukraine.
On or before July 9, at least one Ukrainian drone reportedly hit a rocket assembly building in Kapustin Yar, setting it on fire. “The historic Kapustin Yar test range, where Stalin’s rockets learned to pilot Nazi ballistic missiles in 1947, is being denazified by Ukrainian drones! » joked Russian regional historian Anatoly Zak.
This is the second Ukrainian attack in two weeks against a Russian space facility. In late June, Ukrainian drones attacked the NIP-16 space communications facility in Russian-occupied Crimea. The Russians use the powerful NIP-16 radios to communicate with military satellites. , so it makes sense for the Ukrainians to target him.
The precise objective of the Ukrainians in attacking Kapustin Yar is less clear. In recent years, the Kremlin has tested the air defense missile systems at Kapustin Yar, adding the Lacheck S-500, the only example of which is in Crimea and which may have been recently destroyed. attacked through Ukraine. “This is an operational checkbox for the Russian Defense Ministry,” Zak stressed.
But it’s hard to say whether Ukrainian drone operators were looking to disrupt a specific study and progression effort, or whether they simply attacked Kapustin Yar because it’s a prestigious site and, being only 600 kilometers from the front line in Ukraine, it’s inside. of diversity of the maximum remote planes. flying Ukrainian drones.
For Russia, the damage may necessarily be political. This is the case with Ukrainian drone attacks. “These measures are more political than military and are aimed at putting pressure on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in front of other Russians and answering why ‘he can’t protect Russia,'” said Mick Ryan, an army officer. Australian retired. general.
This is a worrying sign for Russia that its military and most vital commercial services are exposed to Ukrainian drone attacks. Yes, Ukrainians are suffering from a severe shortage of air defense systems that leaves their cities and airfields vulnerable to Russian attacks.
But the Russians are in trouble too. The most productive Ukrainian drones reach a distance of up to 800 miles. There are so many thousands of Russian targets within 800 miles of the front line that the Russian Air Force protects them all and at the same time protects Russian forces in occupied Ukraine.
The Air Force will have to decide which bases, factories and service areas it will protect in Russia and which it will leave defenseless. Kapustin Yar chose not to stay. So around July 9 the historical control site burned down.
Sources:
1. Central Intelligence Agency: https://www. cia. gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79-00945A000100100001-1. pdf
2. Cyber-Boroshno: https://t. me/kiber_boroshno/8981
3. Anatoly Zak: https://x. com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/1811224986360692861
4. Mick Ryan: https://mickryan. substack. com/p/the-campaigns-of-ukraine-part-2
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