The Duga facility: how the USSR nuclear shield worked and collapsed

📍 near Chornobyl, #Ukraine 

The Duga facility is a giant complex of antennas, reaching a height of 150 meters, visible from almost anywhere in the exclusion zone. It emitted a characteristic knock on the air, for which it was nicknamed the "Woodpecker".
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The signal came from beyond the horizon, and for a long time it was believed that it was an over-the-horizon radar of the Air Defense System. 

The Duga radar station still stands, however, it is completely unusable, especially after the Chornobyl accident.

💰According to some sources, the construction of the facility is estimated at between 500 million and 1.5 billion US dollars - twice as expensive as the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

📸: _ksu_erm_, bolharov
#ukraine
#Ukraine