Introduction and Abbreviations

The Navy is an important branch within the Nuclear Armed Forces of the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation today. The collapse of the Soviet Union 1990/91 was a disaster and the Armed Forces still are influenced from those events.
However it looks like the turn-around is on its way in the meantime. Maybe many more of the old facilities and systems again are in use or have been updated, than they like to make us believe.
Facts about the actual situation within the Armed Forces are difficult to get. A keyhole provides some knowledge for the non-profs: communication methods and modes which we can decode in some training and backup networks. The fact, that some parts of the C2 Systems of the Nuclear Armed Forces belong to these networks, makes interception quite interesting.

I gratefully used many different sources of published information, namely from:

- Eugene Miasnikov, NTI.org: The future of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces
- Valery E. Yarnich, former officer at SRF and General staff, about: C3 for Russian Nuclear Strategic Systems
- Michael Jasinski, CNS Research Ass.: Russia's Strategic Early Warning System, C3 and Missile Defense
- Pavel Podvig: many articles on Russia's Nuclear Strategic Forces
- The XXI Century Encyclopedia: Russia's Arms and Technologies, Vol. XIII
- Jane's Defense Equipment Library: Military Communications
- Russian Newspapers
- Unfortunately unknown source on the WWW: Command Posts of the Soviet Union .....

These are the most important abbreviations commonly used by the authors:
ABM Anti Ballistic Missiles
ACS Automated Communication System
ASAT Anti Satellite System
CIS Commonwealth of Independent States (successor organisation of the Soviet Union)
CICS Combat Information and Control System
C2 Command and Control
C3 Command, Control and Communication
ELF Extremely Low Frequencies 3...300 Hz
ESW Electromagnetic Shock Waves
EW Early Warning
HF High Frequencies 1.6...30 MHz
ICBM Inter Continental Ballistic Missile
IRBM Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile
LOW Launch On Warning
LUA Launch Under Attack (Second Strike Option)
LW Long Waves 30...300 kHz
MW Medium Waves 300...1600 kHz
NF Northern Fleet
NSNF Naval Strategic Nuclear Forces
OTHR Over-The-Horizon-Radar
PF Pacific Fleet
RDF Radio Direction Finding
RViA Missile Troops and Artillery
SKKP Space Monitoring System
SMS Strategic Missiles Submarine
SNF Strategic Nuclear Forces
SPRN Missile Attack Early Warning System
SRBM Short Range Ballistic Missiles
SRF Strategic Rocket Forces
SSBN Submersible Ship with Ballistic Missiles
UHF Ultra High Frequencies GHz range
VGK Russian Supreme High Command (General Staff)
VHF Very High Frequencies 30...400 MHz
VLF Very Low Frequencies 0.3...30 kHz