Monday, September 22, 2008

Area Closure for a Missile Shot Announced in the Sea of Japan

Area Closure:

HYDROPAC 1841/2008(95,96). SEA OF JAPAN. MISSILES.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS 2300Z TO 0200Z COMMENCING DAILY
24 AND 25 SEP AND 0400Z TO 0700 DAILY 25 AND 26 SEP
IN AREA BOUND BY
41-55.0N 132-01.3E, 42-15.2N 131-41.9E,
42-38.5N 132-33.5E, 42-41.8N 133-01.1E,
42-40.6N 133-02.4E, 42-22.5N 132-49.6E.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 260800Z SEP.





Here is a close up of the Cape Povorotnyy area for the squints out there. Bring your own light table:



A closer look at the facilities:



I'm no imagery analyst, but these look like bermed firing positions for mobile coastal defense missiles. Or they could be reveted helo pads/parking positions, who knows.




The big open field in the north of the photo looks like antennas or lightning arresters to me. What all the vehicles are doing in the south of the photo is a mystery to me.



Wikimapia identifies this facility as the Cape Povorotnyy lighthouse.

The closure is a little less than 20NM long. That would be a good range for a coastal defense cruise missile shot or maybe even a SAM vs. Drone.

We'll see if anything pops up later in the week to confirm that this closure was actually used.

1 comment:

Jim said...

If you use Google Earth to view Cape Povorotnyj and drop below 20,000 feet two photos of missile launches from the area you noted. The photos were taken in 1992 and 1994.