A fresh photo above shows some construction activity at the Chekhov radar site near Moscow. The old Dunay-3U radar that was built there in the late 1970s as part of the missile defense system, but has been used mostly for space surveillance in recent years. Or, rather, half of the radar - it's eastward-looking part of the radar has been shut down.
Now there seems to be a fresh construction activity at the radar site - there is nothing there at the September 2015 Google Earth image:
There is also some fresh construction at the transmitter site (which Google doesn't show yet):
The purpose of this activity is not entirely clear. A rumor has it that it might be related to (among other things) to the Nudol ASAT program.
The book
Comments
Strange that a static Radar complex will support a mobile ASAT system...
Why 'rumors'?
There is a number of the documents published in open access which:
a) report that on this site the new 14Ts31 radar is under construction;
b) indicate that the new 14Ts31 radar is part of the Nudol project.
Hi Alexander. Would you mind providing some links to the information you're referencing? It's ok if they're in Russian. Thanks in advance.
14Ts031 radar at the Chekhov-7 site ('Object 0746-M'):
see page 23:
http://www.komtender.ru/files.php?fid=140013857
page 47:
http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/documentdownload?documentId=71943583
14Ts031 as part of 14Ts033 complex:
page 49:
http://www.almaz-antey.ru/_files/13/371/
14Ts033 as the Nudol Project:
pages 25 and 27:
http://raspletin.com/files/12021/Godovoy%20otchet%202011.pdf