This post talks about the design of various types of command post of the Strategic Missile Forces. In the structure of the combat command and control of the Strategic Missile Forces, the command post system occupies a special place. Therefore there are a lot of them. Directly at the position or group of positions is the command post of the missile regiment, it is commanded from the division command post, the division is commanded by the army command post, and the three army command posts available in Russia are subordinate to the Central Strategic Missile Forces command post, located near Moscow. Such a complex system is absolutely understandable - multiple duplication increases the likelihood that at the right moment the enemy, having struck, will not be able to destroy the entire combat control system, part of the command post will survive and a retaliatory strike will be delivered.
The unified command post (UCP) is structurally a twelve-level metal container with a length of 33 m, a diameter of 3.3 m, and a weight of 125 tons, suspended using a shock absorption system in a standard missile silo. Each level is a round room containing equipment and equipment that reliably perform specialized functions in any environmental conditions: in the zero compartment (this compartment is located outside the container, on its upper outer side) there is a power supply system for the container, 1st and 2nd levels - equipped with diesel generators, 3rd communication equipment, 4th - automatic control and monitoring system, 5th - communication equipment, 6th, 7th and 8th - equipment for providing power supply to all UKP facilities, 9th and 10th - equipment for combat missile launch, 11th - command a point with combat posts, remote control panels and control of automated control systems and communications. In the last 12m (more precisely on the first floor below) there is a rest room for the duty shift.
At levels 1 and 2 (counting from the top) there are diesel generators that provide the command post with electricity. You can go to the next level through the hatch.
By analogy, they began to build unique command posts of missile divisions, popularly nicknamed the “Egg.” But, alas, only 1 facility was put into operation.
External disguise: 
The upper part of the capsule, already cut into metal: 
I would also like to say about the Perimeter system
The Perimeter system (Strategic Missile Forces Airborne Forces Index - 15E601) is a complex for automatic control of a massive retaliatory nuclear strike, created in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. Designed to ensure the delivery of combat orders from the highest echelons of command (the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, the Strategic Missile Forces Directorate) to command posts and individual launchers of strategic missiles on combat duty, in the event of an emergency when communication lines may be damaged.
At its core, the Perimeter system is an alternative command system for all branches of the military armed with nuclear warheads. It was created as a backup communications system in case the key nodes of the Kazbek command system and the Strategic Missile Forces communications lines were destroyed by the first strike in accordance with the concept of Limited Nuclear War developed in the United States.
To ensure the guaranteed fulfillment of its role, the system was initially designed as fully automatic [source not specified 683 days], and in the event of a massive attack, it is capable of deciding on an adequate retaliatory strike independently, without the participation (or with minimal participation) of a person. The existence of such a system is sometimes called immoral, but it is essentially the only deterrent that provides real guarantees that a potential enemy will renounce the concept of a crushing preventive strike.
According to Vladimir Yarynich, one of the developers of the system, the system also served as insurance against the country's top leadership making a hasty decision based on unverified information. Having received a signal from the missile attack warning system, the top officials of the state could activate the Perimeter system and calmly await developments, while being in full confidence that even the destruction of everyone who has the authority to issue a command for a retaliatory attack will not be able to prevent the attack retribution. This completely excluded the possibility of making a decision on a retaliatory strike in the event of a false alarm.
After an order received from the highest echelons of the Strategic Missile Forces control to a special command post, the 15P011 command missile with a special 15B99 warhead is launched, which in flight transmits launch commands to all launchers and command posts of the Strategic Missile Forces that have the appropriate receivers.
In December 1990, in the 8th Missile Division (Yurya town), a regiment (commander - Colonel S.I. Arzamastsev) with a modernized command missile system, called “Perimeter-RTs”, which included a command missile, took up combat duty , created on the basis of the RT-2PM Topol ICBM
There is also evidence that previously the Perimeter system, along with 15A11 missiles, included command missiles based on the Pioneer MRBM. Such a mobile complex with “pioneer” command missiles was called “Gorn”. The index of the complex is 15P656, the missiles are 15Zh56. It is known about at least one unit of the Strategic Missile Forces, which was armed with the Horn complex - the 249th Missile Regiment, stationed in the city of Polotsk, Vitebsk Region, 32nd Missile Division (Postavy), from March-April From 1986 to 1988 it was on combat duty with a mobile complex of command missiles.
Medium-range ballistic missile RSD-10 "Pioneer"
Performance characteristics
Maximum firing range, km4700
Launch weight, t37.0
Payload weight, kg1600
Rocket length, m16.49
Rocket diameter, m1.79
Number of steps2
Number of warheads of the warhead3 
Organizations involved in the production of components and technical maintenance of the complex are experiencing difficulties with financing. Staff turnover is high, resulting in a decline in staff qualifications. Despite this, the Russian leadership has repeatedly assured foreign states that there is no risk of accidental or unauthorized missile launches.
According to Wired magazine in 2009, the Perimeter system is operational and ready to strike back.
Not everyone manages to get to the Central Command Post of the Strategic Missile Forces. But “Defend Russia” journalists were lucky enough to see the “holy of holies” of the missile forces with their own eyes. We photographed everything we could and prepared a tour of the secret facility for you.
The main hall of the Central Command Post looks like this:
All threads of combat control flock to the command post, and from here the leadership of the Strategic Missile Forces troops takes place.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
The military did not admit which phone number Putin was calling them on, but assured that it was definitely one of these.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
The radio training goes like this:
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
The imaginary opponent interferes with the signal. The radiotelegraph operator does not hear anything on the network and reports to the crew chief. The chief gives the command to the operator of the interference assessment post: “Assess the level of interference.” The operator evaluates, reports and suggests ways to avoid interference. The crew chief issues a command and rebuilds the radio network to a frequency that is not subject to enemy interference.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
Irina Pervykh, sergeant, radiotelegraph operator of the radio department: “Women are also needed in the army - everyone fulfills their duties. I have 8 years of service and I can no longer imagine my life without the army. It sucks."
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
An ordinary person who does not know Morse code will not understand the radiogram. Messages are not transmitted in clear text. These are always coding phrases, commands. An enemy who knows Morse code but does not have the keys will not be able to decipher the text. The signalmen themselves do not know what they are transmitting. Radiograms can be either meaningful text or a set of letters.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
In the control room of the radio department, information is received and transmitted, communication is maintained with all missile units in Russia. The equipment is serviceable and functional, but the equipment will be updated in the near future. It is planned that by 2020 the missile forces will completely switch to digital communications.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
You can get lost in the corridors of the Central Command Post. In total, their length is more than a kilometer. And they are located at a depth of 30 meters.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
Since this year, the Strategic Missile Forces Central Operations Center has been operating an electronic document flow - all documents and reports are transmitted electronically. This reduces data processing time and improves the quality of work.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
The head of the duty shift, Colonel Alexey Markovich Knopmakher: “There are about six thousand missile officers at combat posts every day.”
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
All signals enter the line equipment room of the channel-forming systems department of the Strategic Missile Forces Communications Center, and only then are distributed. It is armed with the most modern complex of digital transmission systems. The main advantage of this equipment is its compactness. Four such racks can organize the operation of 500 communication channels. For now, both the previous equipment and the modern one are working in parallel - re-equipment is happening gradually. New systems are resistant to temperature changes and have built-in uninterruptible power supplies.
Photo: Andrey Luft/Defend Russia
Girls, I’m looking at another place where quite educated and moderately romantic people live, with a decent average salary. This is the closed city of Vlasikha (aka Odintsovo-10 - 25 km west of Moscow) - a city of grooms with a population of 24 thousand. There are no Tajik janitors or Caucasian taxi drivers. Bonus: a crazy underground city in case of nuclear war. In general, if something happens, it will be you who will have to revive humanity from scratch.
Although, on the other hand, according to the declassified plans of the potential enemy, three nuclear warheads are intended specifically for Vlasikha. And this is no coincidence.
In fact, an autonomous submarine (or rather underground) is hidden in the center of Vlasikha. The length of its deeply buried corridors is more than 10 km. We were shown only four underground floors, but according to the smoking room, the construction of the command post is buried even lower.
Of course, the Central Command Post of the Strategic Missile Forces is completely autonomous. Excess supplies of oxygen, water, food, medicine, etc. There are probably rubber women in case of protracted negotiations and subsequent conflicts.
Yes, here the same red button is pressed that controls the launches of all silo-based and mobile-based missile systems. And it is clear that in terms of the total nuclear warhead, the strike power of the Strategic Missile Forces exceeds any other type/branch of Russian troops. We press the button, and those guys from Wall Street, Fifth Avenue, Causeway Bay, Bond Street, Avenue des Champs Elysees, Ginza, Grafton Street, Pitt Street Mall, Gangnam Station, etc. are gone. True, my Enthusiasts highway won’t exist either, but at heart Russians are enthusiasts, maybe we’ll be the only ones left intact.
By the way, if our enemy saw the state of the command post, he would think many times before placing missiles around Russia. They let us take pictures with cameras and video. You can see for yourself that most of the equipment is from the distant times of the USSR. How the capacitors still don’t explode and the relays don’t short out is anyone’s guess. However, after the start of a nuclear showdown, the bunker will be able to hold out for several minutes, which is enough for a guaranteed retaliatory strike. But if we accidentally shoot something, it’s not our fault - we asked for it ourselves.
It remains to add that military personnel of the Central Command Commission receive substantial salary increases, and incentive payments to the best officers range from 45 to 140 thousand rubles. – information from the command of the Strategic Missile Forces. Plus, a year of service at an underground command post is equivalent to one and a half years, which is also nice.
Below are photos and videos to give you an idea.
I visited the closed city of Odintsovo-10 (Vlasikha), where the Strategic Missile Forces Museum and the Strategic Missile Forces Central Command Post are located.
1. The decision to create a museum was made in 1979. The building has a circular shape with pylons and symbolizes the lower part of a ballistic missile. The museum has several open areas. One of them shows samples of armored vehicles and artillery pieces: 
2. On others - several ballistic missiles. R-12 medium-range missile: 
3. The museum consists of 14 halls located on several floors. The first floor of the museum is dedicated to the history of the creation of domestic weapons. In the hall near the entrance there is a 120-mm regimental mortar of the 1938 model and a restored captured BMW-R71 on display: 
4. The first mention of domestic missiles can be found in the Pskov Chronicle of the 15th century. In 1717, Peter I adopted a one-pound signal flare. In 1827, the first rocket unit was created - a rocket company, which took part in the assault on the Turkish fortress of Varna. 
5. M-13 rockets, which were equipped with the BM-13 Katyusha, each weighing 43 kg: 
6. Support cone of the R-7 intercontinental missile: 
7. Combustion chamber of a single-stage liquid rocket R-2: 
8. Each of the halls is dedicated to a specific historical period associated with the Strategic Missile Forces. 
9. Hall 5 is dedicated to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the USSR’s Operation Anadyr, which consisted of the transfer and deployment of a group of troops with nuclear weapons to Cuba: 
10. Onboard biprism of the UR-100 rocket: 
11. It looks like an ordinary cowshed, but in fact... 
12. I was pleased to see in the museum not only historical documents and theoretical materials, but also a large number of authentic exhibits, devices and details: 
13. Instrument compartment of the R-36 rocket (rocket length 31.7 m, weight 184 tons) against the background of S. G. Antonov’s painting “Underground Missile Bastion”: 
14. Layout of military unit 20096: 
15. Instrument compartment with gyroscopic platform: 
16. Hall 11 is dedicated to space topics: 
17. The tour ends with an inspection of the diorama “Position area of the missile division.” It is large and complex: the canvas area is 176 sq.m., the layout part is 60 sq.m. “Live” the panorama looks very majestic. 
18. After this it was possible to “touch” some samples of our weapons; I will give a few photographs.
Degtyarev light machine gun: 
19. Dragunov sniper rifle. Not only have I never held it in my hands before, I’ve only seen it in pictures: 
20. RPG-2 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher: 
21. Let me move on to the second part of the report: a visit to the Central Command Post of the Strategic Missile Forces: the facility, of course, is secret and guarded. 
22. City within a city: The center is located in a closed area behind 5 rows of fencing: 
23. The battle cat is watching you, spy! 
24. The Strategic Missile Forces as an independent branch of the Armed Forces were formed on December 17, 1959.
A modest building, an unremarkable entrance, and below is a central public service center: 
25. It is from here that all units of the Strategic Missile Forces, both stationary and mobile, are controlled: 
26. I have long wanted to visit an active Strategic Missile Forces facility. The entrance to the bunker, which is an entire underground city, consisting of several floors, and the length of the corridors reaches 14 km. The bunker is completely autonomous. 3 consecutive pressure doors are visible, the outer one is curved towards a possible shock wave: 
27. For the first time I had the opportunity to walk through the walls with functioning life support and lighting systems: 
28. Combat post responsible for the functioning of the life support systems of the central command center: 
29. Because Since fire is one of the main threats, fire drills are held here on an ongoing basis. I attended one of these: 
30. Well, now - the most FAT, which I respect very much: technical floors full of operating and mothballed machinery and life support systems :))) 
31. Minus who knows what floor (and many meters below ground level) - we walk along technical corridors, heading to the UPS, led by escorts from the ranks of counterintelligence: 
32. After several hundred meters of corridors, we find ourselves in a large room, along the walls of which there are iron shields with a bunch of handles, switches, buttons and switches: 
33. Umformers (Motor generator - converts one type of electrical energy into electrical energy of another type): 
34. High voltage equipment: 
36. The next stop is a control post for the bunker’s life support equipment: 
37. 
38. 
39. And again the corridors, we go down below: 
40. After walking some more, we find ourselves in a room with diesel generators, which will begin to generate electricity when the external power supply to the bunker is turned off: 
41.
42. All equipment necessary for the operation of diesel generators is located in the machine room below: 
43. 
44. It’s time to climb to the upper tiers: 
45. We go to the so-called “golden corridor”, in which the main services are located. By the way, on each floor there are a lot of turns and branches, so without a guide, getting lost is like nothing to do: 
46. I liked the sign on one of the doors. I wanted to take a look there :) 
47. And here is the entrance to the room for which the bunker was built: the main control room of the Strategic Missile Forces units. Of course, it was impossible to take photographs inside. The room is somewhat similar to a control center, also a bunch of computers and large screens on the walls: 
48. The main control room is depicted in the picture that I saw in the bunker, I can post it :) By the way, the picture was painted, judging by the uniform of the soldiers, around the 80s. Now the room looks a little different, but you can get an idea: 
I express my gratitude to the online press club of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
