CHAYKA Radio Navigation System
Identification
The record is best interpreted as the Russian Chayka long-range terrestrial radionavigation system rather than a single fixed site. Official Russian standards and RIRV history describe Chayka as a multi-station impulse-phase system operated on Russian territory, while the supplied metadata contains no placemark or coordinates to isolate one transmitter location; identity as one specific site therefore remains ambiguous. ([elec.ru](https://www.elec.ru/files/2021/07/14/GOST-R-53169-2008.pdf))
Mission
RIRV states the European Chayka chain entered service in 1969 to determine aircraft and ship positions with stated accuracy of about 50–100 m. GOST R 53169-2008 shows the system was standardized for operation in the 90–110 kHz band and for transmitting GNSS correction data synchronized with GLONASS/GPS, indicating a terrestrial navigation and augmentation role. ([rirt.ru](https://rirt.ru/aboutmain/istoriya-instituta/))
Network footprint
Open authoritative material identifies Chayka as a chain-based network. RIRV lists the European chain (1969), Eastern chain (1986), and Northern chain (1996); a CIS radiolocation program also records a Russian-American Chayka/Loran-C chain in the Far East with Russian stations near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky. These are historical network facts, not proof of the current status of every node. ([rirt.ru](https://rirt.ru/aboutmain/istoriya-instituta/))
Modernization
RIRV reports that after 2000 stationary Alpha and Chayka stations were modernized, solid-state Scorpion timing/navigation hardware entered serial production, and formation of new Chayka chains in Russia began on that hardware base. The 2008 Russian standard explicitly extends the correction-data format to Scorpion as well, showing continuity between legacy Chayka infrastructure and newer terrestrial timing/navigation architecture. ([rirt.ru](https://rirt.ru/aboutmain/istoriya-instituta/))
Current confidence
The most recent authoritative technical material located in this review is a 2023 RIRV/Navy briefing showing Russian receiver suites still supporting RSDN-3/4/5/10, Loran-C, eLoran, and Scorpion-class signals and describing terrestrial systems as a backup where satellite navigation is vulnerable. However, the sources reviewed do not publicly confirm the exact March 2026 operating status, readiness, or unit ownership of any individual Chayka transmitter site. ([rirt.ru](https://rirt.ru/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/4P_Ilalov_TSDRN-VMF.pdf))