Strategic Missile Forces Communications Center
Strategic Context and Mission
The Communications Center of the Strategic Missile Forces (Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya, RVSN) provides the assured, continuous, and survivable communications backbone for nuclear command and control across Russia’s land-based intercontinental ballistic missile force. It links the National Command Authority, the General Staff, RVSN headquarters, missile armies and divisions, and both fixed and road-mobile missile regiments, ensuring the reliable delivery of combat orders and the flow of status and readiness reporting under peacetime, crisis, and wartime conditions.
Identifiers and Organizational Structure
Based on the provided identifiers, the core structure comprises a headquarters element identified as military unit 33790 and at least three specialized subordinate components: the 140th Transmitting Radio Center (military unit 33790-A; also referenced in open sources as military unit 12407), the 142nd Receiving Radio Center (military unit 33790-B), and the 89th Satellite Communications Center Kristall (military unit 33790-V). The use of letter suffixes under a parent field post number is a standard Russian Ministry of Defense convention for denoting subordinate elements.
Command and Leadership
The provided information lists Major General Nikolay Aleshin as the commander of military unit 33790. Within the RVSN, communications units are administratively and operationally subordinate to RVSN headquarters via its communications directorate. The RVSN as a whole is commanded by the Commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, a position held by Colonel General Sergey Karakaev since 2010, according to publicly available Russian Ministry of Defense reporting.
140th Transmitting Radio Center (military unit 33790-A / 12407)
The 140th Transmitting Radio Center serves as a high-power transmission node for long-range radio communications supporting RVSN command and control. Its role is to originate and broadcast directive traffic and other command data toward dispersed missile formations and command posts. In such architectures, transmitting sites typically feature robust power infrastructure, extensive antenna systems suited to long-haul propagation, and hardened facilities to preserve mission continuity under electronic warfare and physical stress. Specific equipment types, emission parameters, and operating frequencies are not publicly disclosed.
142nd Receiving Radio Center (military unit 33790-B)
The 142nd Receiving Radio Center is the dedicated reception counterpart to the transmitting node, supporting the acquisition of inbound communications across long-range radio channels. Separating receiving from transmitting sites is a common engineering measure to reduce self-interference and improve reception quality. Such centers generally employ multi-band antenna arrays and signal processing capabilities to maintain reception under adverse propagation and jamming conditions. Detailed system configurations and performance parameters are not publicly available.
89th Satellite Communications Center Kristall (military unit 33790-V)
The 89th Satellite Communications Center Kristall provides the satellite communications segment for the RVSN Communications Center, enabling resilient beyond-line-of-sight connectivity to missile armies, divisions, mobile regiments, and command posts. Russian military satellite communications systems publicly cited in official and industry reporting include geostationary platforms such as Blagovest and highly elliptical systems such as Meridian; ground segment nodes like Kristall enable access, routing, and management of those links for operational use by the Strategic Missile Forces. Specific terminal suites, gateway densities, and network topologies are not disclosed.
Communications Modalities and Redundancy
RVSN communications employ multiple, mutually reinforcing modalities to achieve redundancy and survivability. Public Russian reporting emphasizes the use of protected fiber-optic trunk lines, radio-relay and troposcatter links, high-frequency and other long-range radio channels, and military satellite communications, all secured by state cryptographic systems. The architecture is designed to provide multiple independent paths for priority command traffic so that, if one medium is degraded by technical failure or adversary action, others maintain continuity.
Integration with National Command-and-Control Networks
The Communications Center interfaces with the General Staff’s communications system and the National Defense Management Center to receive and disseminate orders and situational data relevant to nuclear command and control. It maintains assured connectivity with the RVSN’s central and alternate command posts, including the widely reported central command post and headquarters complex at Vlasikha in Moscow Oblast. This integration supports both routine command activities and strategic operations directed during national-level exercises and crises.
Infrastructure Protection and Continuity Measures
Given its strategic role, the Communications Center’s nodes are protected by layered physical security and engineered for continuity under stress. Open-source descriptions of Russian strategic communications infrastructure consistently reference hardened construction, electromagnetic pulse protection, autonomous power generation (e.g., diesel backup), environmental controls, and redundant terrestrial and satellite links. These measures aim to preserve command connectivity despite kinetic attack, electromagnetic effects, or infrastructure disruption. Precise site layouts and protection standards remain undisclosed.
Operational Activities and Readiness
Russian Ministry of Defense reporting regularly highlights communications training events within the RVSN and participation in annual strategic command-and-staff exercises such as Grom, during which strategic communications continuity and the transmission of command-and-control traffic are exercised and verified. The Communications Center maintains round-the-clock duty shifts to support persistent connectivity, troubleshooting, and rapid restoration procedures for mission-critical circuits.
Information Reliability and Open-Source Indicators
Field post numbers and unit designations like those provided (e.g., military unit 33790 and its letter-suffixed subcomponents; the alternative identifier 12407 for the 140th Transmitting Radio Center) commonly appear in Russian official communications, open press mentions, and procurement or court registry documents. Such appearances provide verifiable anchors for unit identification. However, nomenclature variations across sources and periodic reorganizations necessitate careful cross-referencing when correlating identifiers to functions over time.
Known Unknowns and Classification Boundaries
Specifics that would materially characterize these sites—such as precise locations and coordinates, internal facility layouts, antenna characteristics, operating frequencies and waveforms, cryptographic implementations, personnel rosters beyond named commanders, circuit routing diagrams, and alert procedures—are not publicly available or are classified. This analysis therefore confines itself to roles, organizational identifiers, and functions that are documented in open sources or provided in the input.
Relevance to Strategic Deterrence
As the central node for Strategic Missile Forces communications, military unit 33790 and its subordinate radio and satellite centers underpin the credibility of Russia’s land-based nuclear deterrent by ensuring that launch authority, inhibit commands, readiness directives, and status reports can be exchanged reliably under all conditions. Russian official statements consistently emphasize modernization and digitalization of command-and-control communications to sustain this function against evolving technical and operational threats.