According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency Moscow on July 3: Admiral Sergei Surowikin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air and Space Army, said that he plans to start deploying new orbit clusters for communications and reconnaissance military satellites in 2022 and 2023.

Surowikin pointed out in an interview with the Russian Red Star: “In 2022, the third phase of the deployment of the advanced unified communications satellite system of the Russian Federation’s armed forces is planned, and the deployment of the high-orbit space reconnaissance system will begin in 2023.”

He revealed that he is currently constructing a general “Yellow Crystal” command and measurement system for the Space Force, which can control all types of orbiting spacecraft.

The second phase of the unified satellite communication system currently used by the Russian Army consists of the “meridian” high elliptical orbit satellite and the “Rainbow-1M” geostationary satellite.

Surowikin also stated that Russia plans to deploy a space echelon of missile attack warning systems by 2024.

Surowikin pointed out: “In the framework of establishing a unified space system, it is planned to deploy a spacecraft orbit cluster by 2024.”

According to Surowikin, the completion of the construction of the missile attack warning system space echelon can ensure the smooth execution of the task of global monitoring on the surface of the earth, which is conducive to improving the survivability of the combat command system under the conditions of interference confrontation.

The Russian Ministry of Defense previously stated that the unified Russian space exploration and combat command system will become the basis for the space attack echelon of the missile attack warning system, including a new generation of satellites with high ellipse and geosynchronous orbit. It’s also pointed out that the performance parameters of the unified spaceflight system are not inferior to the United States’ “Space-based Infrared Early Warning System” (SBIRS).

Russian unified space system was put into experimental combat duty in December 2017, including four new types of “dome” satellites.