Russia successfully launched a Soyuz 2-1B rocket at 1950 GMT, 25 June from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Northern Russia. The vehicle was carrying the first military Pion-NKS satellite which was later designated as COSMOS 2550. The Pion-NKS satellite is the first of the Liana programme that is dedicated to locating, tracking and targeting naval warships using an active synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and an Electronic Intelligence (Elint) sensor on the same satellite. The Liana programme also utilises the Lotos-S satellites that are used to locate, track and target enemy land assets. The Liana programme was designed to replace the now defunct Legenda programme that was brought into use during the late-1960’s and was phased out in the early-2000’s.
A graphic of the Pion-NKS satellite. Courtesy of KB Arsenal
