Chernobyl-2 or OTH-SW Duga Radarin Chernobyl, Ukraine

The over-the-horizon radar Duga or object Chernobyl-2 is the largest, most secret and grandiose object of the whole Soviet Union.

Chernobyl-2 is a small abandoned twin town near Chernobyl and Pripyat. You won't find it on any map - in the USSR they knew how to keep military secrets. Here, hidden from prying eyes, a huge metal monster stands. His name is Chernobyl-2.

His roar, the rumbling of the torn fastenings is heard to this day in windy, rainy weather. A top-secret radar was built for the early detection of enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles. Surprisingly, but the station itself was discovered only after it began to work, because the enormous dimensions of the over-the-horizon radar (OTH-SW) allow us to see it literally from outer space.


Photo: © Martin Trolle Mikkelsen

The construction consists of two antennas - the height of the low-frequency is 150 meters (half of the Eiffel Tower), the high-frequency one - 100 meters (the height of three nine-storey buildings placed on top of each other), the width of the structure is 730 meters which is equal to the length of ten football fields.

Construction was ahead of its time, could turn the course of history, prevent war, but fate made its own corrections and after the tragedy on the fourth reactor, Duga radar became another post-apocalyptic landscape.


Photo: © Martin Trolle Mikkelsen

Interesting Facts:

• Chernobyl-2 in the Soviet Union was designated on topographic maps as a pioneer camp.
• OTH Duga consumed 30 megawatts of electricity, so it was built near the nuclear power plant.
• 600-700 million dollars was spent on construction - twice as much as for the construction of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
• the station in the vast of USA was called "Russian Woodpecker" for the characteristic sound of rapping on the air.
• The American Congress seriously considered the "Russian Woodpecker" as a geophysical (climatic) weapon capable of causing a storm, tornadoes and other terrible cataclysms.
• During the first months of operation, the frequency waves produced by the Chernobyl-2 object coincided with the range of waves of the aircraft systems and interfered their work. The leadership of the Western countries demanded the termination of the work of the OTH-SW.
• due to the size and the ability to "look" beyond the horizon, Duga Radar gained the fame of the "Burnout", which is able to remotely influence mind of living beings.


Photo: © Martin Trolle Mikkelsen

Now, nature triumphs over the secret station Chernobyl-2 - a symbol of the triumph of the human mind. It is slowly covering the metal giant with a layer of rust and plunging into oblivion.