The secret payloads of Glonass

[B. Hendrickx]

Aside from their primary mission, Russia’s Glonass navigation satellites are being used for a number of little publicized secondary military objectives. Despite the secretive nature of these payloads, a considerable amount of information can be gathered on them from open sources. For all the details, see this article in the latest edition of The Space Review:
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4502/1

A brief summary:

1) Instruments to detect nuclear explosions have been flown on Glonass satellites since early this century under a program known as Lira. The nuclear detection payload is called BAL ("Lira On-Board Equipment"). An early version was flown on a modified first-generation satellite in 2001 and they have became standard payloads for Glonass-M (BAL-M) and Glonass-K (BAL-K). A further modification (BAL-K2) will be introduced on Glonass-K2 next year. Similar payloads are carried by the Tundra early warning satellites. Similarly, nuclear detection payloads are also flown on American navigation and early warning satellites.

2) Glonass-K2 will also have a transponder to relay distress signals from military users. It is the military equivalent of the international Kospas/Sarsat search and rescue system. The overall system is known as KSPS-MO (Space-Based Search and Rescue System of the Ministry of Defense) and the on-board transponder is named BRKPS-MO (On-Board Search and Rescue Radio Complex of the Ministry of Defense). Civilian Kospas/Sarsat transponders have become a standard payload of navigation satellites (GPS/Navstar, Galileo, Beidou, Glonass-K, Glonass-K2), but Glonass-K2 will become the first satellite to feature a dedicated military system.

3) Another payload likely to make its debut on Glonass-K2 is called Ruveta. Little is known about it, but there is evidence to suggest that it is a signals intelligence payload that will be used to pinpoint the location of NATO vessels and thus provide targeting data for sea-launched cruise missiles.


Included in the article are pictures of two Glonass-M satellites where a payload attached to the lower part of the satellite has been deliberately blurred, indicating it is considered a secret payload (see attachments 1 and 2). It does appear in a handful of other images (like the one in attachment 3) and turns out to be a rectangular black object. It could be part of the nuclear detection payload, which contains detectors operating in various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but may also be something different altogether.

[B. Hendrickx]

Court documentation that appeared online this week makes it clear that tests of the military search and rescue system (KSPS-MO, the military equivalent of the Kospas/Sarsat rescue system) will begin with the flights of the first two Glonass-K2 satellites (nr. 13L and 14L), scheduled for launch later this year.

https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/6596af5f-d5d7-40ce-a13f-4e306a699120

KSPS-MO consists of a ground-based segment and an on-board transponder designated BRKPS-MO. The tests of the system were originally supposed to begin in 2019-2020, but have been repeatedly pushed back by the numerous delays in the launch of the first Glonass-K2 satellites. According to the documentation, at least two satellites are needed for the tests because one of the objectives is to test an intersatellite radio communications system (known as BAMI) to forward distress signals to the ground segment and also to relay return messages to the emergency victims notifying them that help is on the way. The intersatellite link is needed because the Glonass satellite that picks up the distress signal is not necessarily in direct line of sight with the ground segment. 

As mentioned in the previous post, the Glonass-M satellites carry a mysterious black payload that is blurred in some footage of the satellites, indicating it is considered secret. One possible explanation was that it is part of the Lira payload, designed to detect nuclear explosions. However, an ISS Reshetnev insider writing on the NK forum recently said this is not the case. He also denied it is part of an intersatellite laser communications system that was flown on a few Glonass-M satellites. Actually, it appears to be a standard payload flown on all Glonass-M satellites. Its true purpose remains unknown.

The payload can be seen in a handful of videos. I attached one screenshot of the payload to the previous post and here are three more. It has a slightly different appearance in the second image and is obscured from view by a cover in the third image.