Satellite Imagery Confirms Attack on the Vladimir Space Communications Center

Satellite images have confirmed damage to the main antenna of the Vladimir Space Communications Center complex, the Main Hardware and Software Complex building, and the Hardware and Technical Building.

Satellite images showing the damage were published by the Exilenova+ community.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the strike was carried out on June 22, on the same day as the attack on the Dubna Space Communications Center in the Moscow region.

New satellite images confirm the General Staff’s information that the complex’s main antenna—a 25-meter parabolic antenna—and the antenna on the roof of the Main Hardware and Software Complex sustained critical damage.

The central part of the Main Hardware and Software Complex building also sustained significant damage; this section houses the satellite modem and multiplexer rooms, as well as the central switching node, to which fiber-optic communication lines connecting to other space centers are routed.

The Hardware and Technical Building No. 1 also sustained critical damage; it houses the transmission and reception complexes, the central switching system for the center’s antenna station cable routes, as well as equipment for cooling the transmitters and the main antenna’s electronics.

Vladimir Space Communications Center

The Vladimir Space Communications Center is one of five major teleports operated by the Russian state-owned enterprise Space Communications, along with Dubna, Medvezhye Ozera, Skolkovo, and Khabarovsk.

The center’s technical capabilities and geographical location allow it to establish satellite communication channels at positions ranging from 20° west longitude to 103° east longitude, as well as to manage and support the operation of Russian satellite communication systems and spacecraft.

The Space Communications Center was commissioned by order of the USSR Minister of Communications in 1971. At that time, the facility’s primary tasks were to ensure the transmission of radio and television programs and trunk telephone lines to the Far East, as well as to establish telephone lines with Cuba.

In 1995, the Kashstan command-and-measurement complex began operating at the Vladimir Space Communications Center to provide control and facilitate the exchange of telemetry and command data with spacecraft of the Express-A, Express-AM, and Sesat series.

The Express series satellites are designed for digital television and radio broadcasting, telephony, videoconferencing, data transmission, and Internet access; for establishing VSAT networks; and for providing mobile communications for government and presidential use.

Between 2009 and 2015, the center’s infrastructure—including its communications equipment—was modernized, which significantly improved operational reliability and optimized operating costs.