Sura - A glance at the Russian HAARP Facility

Russia has it's own auroral research program, which makes primary use of its facility at Nizhny Novogorod, the Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility.

According to wikipedia (link above),

The Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility, located near the small town Vasilsursk about 100 km eastward from Nizhniy Novgorod (geographical position 56.13° N / 46.10° E) in Russia, is a laboratory for ionosphere research. Its ionospheric heater, similar to the American HAARP, is capable of radiating about 190 MW, effective radiated power (ERP) on short waves. This facility is operated by the radiophysical research institute NIRFI in Nizhny Novgorod.

I came across some further information on Sura:

According to the main scientific employee of Shmidt's Earth Physics Institute, Doctor of Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Valeriy Rudakov, as cited in an article appearing in the March 3rd, 2006, issue of the Russian-language publication Trud, this was the largest, but not the only, such Russian facility. Others existed at Novosibirsk, Tula, and Khabarovsk. (I'd post the article, but I read it in translation from a commercial service and can't link to that or legally reproduce it here.)

The facilities were able to influence the weather, although to what degree is not clear from the article. Some Soviet-era experiments "had military purposes and were developed for infringement of location and radio-communication of a potential rival, i.e. the United States." IIRC, one of US HAARP's proposed military applications was to do likewise, so this is unsurprising.

Rudakov also mentions that several of the facilties used in tandem with each other were able to produce a "cylonic wave," although they were never used for purposes of controlling weather for military (or other) applications.

The Sura facility was shut down following the breakup of the USSR, but has allegedly recently been reactivated and is used in ionospheric research projects, involving international collaboration (including with the United States.)

The above wikipedia link contains some pictures, and links to further pictures.

[edit on 2-5-2006 by koji_K]