MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - A new optical-electronic element of the Russian space surveillance system will be put on combat duty in Crimea next year, chief designer of the space surveillance system (MAK Vympel) Vitaly Goryuchkin told Interfax.
"The installation of an optical-electronic system is nearing completion in Crimea, and it is supposed to be put on duty next year," Goryuchkin said.
"Deployment of a new optical-electronic station with a larger telescope is due to happen in the same area in the near future," he said.
Similar sites will be deployed in Buryatia and the Primorye Territory, Goryuchkin said.
"The main mission of these telescopes is to control high-orbit space objects. The systems also have telescopes capable of gathering information about small-sized objects in low orbits," Goryuchkin said.
The first next-generation optical system began operating in Altai in 2016 and is successfully monitoring outer space, he said.
"The Altai system is working successfully and contributing to the catalogue as much as Okno [a Russian space surveillance system in Tajikistan] does or even more in the field of non-coordinate measurements," Goryuchkin said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on October 4 that 12 new laser-optical and radio-technical systems would be supplied to the forces before 2025 for monitoring space objects.