View source for Duga radar

{{Short description|Soviet over-the-horizon early-warning radar system}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=November 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{GeoGroup}}

{{Infobox building
| image    = DUGA Radar Array near Chernobyl, Ukraine 2014.jpg
| caption  = The array at [[Chernobyl]], [[Ukraine]], viewed from a distance in 2014
| mapframe = no
| embedded = {{Infobox historic site
 | embed = yes
 | designation1 = UKRAINE NATIONAL
 | designation1_offname = {{Lang|uk|Заобрійна (загоризонтна) радіолокаційна станція "Дуга"}} (''Over-the-horizon radar station "Duga"'')
 | designation1_type = Science and Technology
 | designation1_number = 100030-Н
 | image_size = 220
 }}
}}

[[File:Woodpecker array.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Duga-1 array within the [[Chernobyl Exclusion Zone]]. The array of pairs of cylindrical/conical cages on the right are the active elements, fed at the facing points with a form of [[ladder line]] suspended from stand-off platforms at top right. A backplane axial reflector of small wires is visible left of center, most clearly at the bottom of the image. The elements appear to be a modified type of cage or [[Biconical antenna|bi-conical dipole]] providing wide operating bandwidth.]]

'''Duga''' ({{Langx|ru|Дуга}}, {{Literal translation|arc|curve}}) was an [[over-the-horizon radar]] (OTH) system used in the [[Soviet Union]] as part of its [[early-warning radar]] network for [[Missile defense|missile defence]]. It operated from July 1976 to December 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nazaryan |first=Alexander |date=18 April 2014 |url=https://www.newsweek.com/hunt-russian-woodpecker-246670 |title=The Hunt for the Russian Woodpecker |website=Newsweek |access-date=13 March 2025 }}</ref> Two operational Duga radars were deployed, with one near [[Chernobyl]] and [[Liubech]] in the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], and the other in eastern [[Siberia]].

The Duga system was extremely powerful, reaching over 10{{nbsp}}[[Watt#Megawatt|MW]], and emitted in the [[shortwave radio]] bands. It was given the nickname '''Russian Woodpecker''' by shortwave listeners for its emissions randomly appearing and sounding like sharp, repetitive tapping noises at a frequency of 10{{nbsp}}[[Hertz|Hz]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=David L. |date=Summer 1985 |title=The "Russian" (sic) Woodpecker... A Closer Look |journal=Monitoring Times |url=http://www.mysterysignals.signalshed.com/Wpecker5.html |access-date=8 April 2019 |archive-date=8 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408135328/http://www.mysterysignals.signalshed.com/Wpecker5.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The random frequency hops often disrupted legitimate broadcasts, [[amateur radio]] operations, oceanic, commercial, aviation communications, and utility transmissions, resulting in thousands of complaints from many countries worldwide. The signal became such a nuisance that some communications receivers began including "Woodpecker Blankers" in their circuit designs.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bailey |first=Tony |date=February 1984 |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/Ham-Radio-Today/80s/HRT-1984-02.pdf |title=The Datong SRB2 Auto Woodpecker |magazine=Ham Radio Today |via=AmericanRadioHistory.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711215918/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/Ham-Radio-Today/80s/HRT-1984-02.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2021 |pages=2, 9, 39–41 }}</ref>

The unclaimed signal was a source of speculation, giving rise to theories such as Soviet [[brainwashing]] and [[weather modification]] experiments. However, because of its distinctive transmission pattern, many experts and amateur radio hobbyists realized it was an over-the-horizon radar system. [[NATO]] military intelligence had already given it the [[NATO reporting name|reporting name]] ''STEEL WORK'' or ''STEEL YARD'', based on the massive size of the antenna, which spanned {{convert|700|m}} in length and {{convert|150|m}} in height.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fedykovych |first=Pavlo |date=4 March 2019 |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/duga-radar-chernobyl-ukraine/index.html |title=Duga Radar: Enormous Abandoned Antenna Hidden in Forests near Chernobyl |website=[[CNN]] |access-date=9 September 2025 |archive-date=27 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627082623/https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/duga-radar-chernobyl-ukraine/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==

===Genesis===
The Soviets had been working on [[early-warning radar]] for their [[anti-ballistic missile]] systems through the 1960s, but most of these had been line-of-sight systems that were useful for rapid analysis and interception only. None of these systems had the capability to provide early warning of a launch, within seconds or minutes of a launch, which would give the defences time to study the attack and plan a response. At the time, the Soviet [[early warning satellite]] network was not well developed. An over-the-horizon radar sited in the USSR would help solve this problem, and work on such a system for this associated role started in the late 1960s.

The first experimental system, Duga, was built outside [[Mykolaiv]] in [[Ukraine]], successfully detecting rocket launches from [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] at {{convert|2500|km}}. This was followed by the prototype Duga, built on the same site, which was able to track launches from the far east and submarines in the Pacific Ocean as the missiles flew towards [[Novaya Zemlya]]. Both of these radar systems were aimed east and were fairly low power, but with the concept proven, work began on an operational system. The new Duga-1 systems, built in 1972, used a transmitter and receiver separated by about {{convert|60|km}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bukharin |first=Oleg |display-authors=etal |date=2001 |title=Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces |editor=Pavel Podvig |publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=MIT Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fedykovych |first=Pavlo |date=March 2019 |title=Duga radar: Enormous abandoned antenna hidden in forests near Chernobyl |url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/duga-radar-chernobyl-ukraine/index.html |access-date=17 April 2021 |website=CNN |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417170506/https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/duga-radar-chernobyl-ukraine/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Listen
 | filename    = Woodpecker.ogg
 | title       = Woodpecker
 | description = Woodpecker on shortwave radio interfering with [[WWVH]], 2 November 1984. Near the midpoint, a voice can be heard giving the time 1:27 UTC.
 | format      = [[Ogg]]
}}

{{Location map many | Ukraine
| AlternativeMap = Ukraine administrative locations map, improved.svg
| width = 300
| float = right
| caption = Locations of Duga and Duga-1 systems in Ukraine
| label = Duga-1 receiver| label_size = 90
| pos = left
| lat_deg= 51 | lat_min=18 | lat_sec=19.06 | lat_dir=N
| lon_deg= 30 | lon_min=3 | lon_sec=57.35 | lon_dir=E
| label2 = Duga-1 transmitter| label2_size = 90
| pos2 = right
| lat2_deg= 51 | lat2_min=38 | lat2_sec=15.98 | lat2_dir=N
| lon2_deg= 30 | lon2_min=42 | lon2_sec=10.41 | lon2_dir=E
| label3 = Duga transmitter| label3_size = 90
| pos3 = left
| lat3_deg= 46 | lat3_min=48 | lat3_sec=26 | lat3_dir=N
| lon3_deg= 32 | lon3_min=13 | lon3_sec=12 | lon3_dir=E
| label4 = Duga receiver| label4_size = 90
| pos4 = right
| lat4_deg= 47 | lat4_min=02 | lat4_sec=28 | lat4_dir=N
| lon4_deg= 32 | lon4_min=11 | lon4_sec=57 | lon4_dir=E
}}

==="Russian Woodpecker"===
At some point in 1976, a new and powerful radio signal was detected simultaneously worldwide, and quickly dubbed 'the Woodpecker' by [[amateur radio]] operators. Transmission power on some Woodpecker transmitters was estimated to be as high as 10{{nbsp}}MW [[equivalent isotropically radiated power]].<ref name="mystery">{{cite journal |date=February 1977 |url=http://www.mysterysignals.signalshed.com/Wpecker2.html |title=Mystery Soviet Over-the-Horizon Tests |journal=Wireless World |page=53 |access-date=8 April 2019 |archive-date=8 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408135328/http://www.mysterysignals.signalshed.com/Wpecker2.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="week">{{cite journal |url=http://www.newsweek.com/hunt-russian-woodpecker-246670 |title=The Massive Russian Radar Site in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone |first=Alexander |last=Nazaryan |date=18 April 2014 |journal=Newsweek |access-date=20 November 2015 |archive-date=12 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012093309/https://www.newsweek.com/hunt-russian-woodpecker-246670 |url-status=live }}</ref> Even prior to 1976, a similar woodpecker-style interference is remembered by radio amateurs occurring in the [[High frequency|high frequencies]]. As early as 1963, or before, radio amateurs were calling this "the Russian Woodpecker".<ref>{{cite web |last=Piliounis |first=Ioannis |url=https://www.planetanalog.com/a-nightmare-for-ham-radio-operators-the-russian-woodpecker/ |title=A nightmare for HAM Radio operators: The "Russian Woodpecker" |date=12 February 2017 |access-date=23 February 2022 }}</ref> Little is known about the power levels or Russian designation but it was probably a forerunner of the Duga radar systems. It was also speculated at that time, at least among radio amateurs, that this was an over-the-horizon radar.

[[Triangulation]] by amateur radio hobbyists and [[NATO]] showed the signals came from a location in present-day [[Ukraine]], at the time called the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (part of the [[USSR]]). Confusion due to small differences in the reports being made from various sources led to the site being variously located near [[Kyiv]], [[Minsk]], [[Chernobyl]], [[Gomel]] or [[Chernihiv]]. All of these reports were describing the same deployment, with the transmitter only a few kilometres southwest of Chernobyl (south of Minsk, northwest of Kyiv) and the receiver about {{convert|50|km}} northeast of Chernobyl (just west of Chernihiv, south of Gomel). At one time there was speculation that several transmitters were in use.<ref name="mystery" />

The radar system was given the code 5Н32-West by the Soviets, and was set up in two [[Closed city|closed towns]]. Liubech-1 held the two transmitters and Chernobyl-2 the receivers.<ref name="week" /> A second installation was built near [[Komsomolsk-on-Amur]], in Bolshya Kartel and Lian, but did not become active for some time.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

===NATO reporting name===
The NATO reporting name for the Duga-1 is often quoted as STEEL YARD. Many online and several print references use this name. However some sources also use the term STEEL WORK (or STEEL WORKS). As any "official" sources using NATO Reporting Names are likely to be classified, establishing the true name will be difficult. The earliest found open source mention of a NATO Reporting Name for this system, a reference publication in print while the system was still active, unambiguously uses the term STEEL WORK.<ref>{{Cite book |date=1989 |title=The International Countermeasures Handbook |edition=14th |location=Englewood, Colorado, US |publisher=Cardiff Publishing |page= }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2016}}
Jane's Information Group is an often quoted open source reference for information across several military fields and subjects. Their "Jane's Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems", several editions over a number of years, uses the term "Steel Works".<ref>{{Cite book |date=1994 |title=Janes Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems, 1993–94 |location=Coulsdon, Surrey, UK |publisher=Jane's Data Division |page=44 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |date=1995 |title=Janes Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems, 1994–95 |location=Coulsdon, Surrey, UK |publisher=Jane's Data Division |page=50 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
 | title = Janes Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems, 1995–96
 | year = 1996
 | page = 54
 | publisher = Jane's Data Division
 | location = Coulsdon, Surrey, UK
 }}</ref>

===Civilian identification===
Even from the earliest reports it was suspected that the signals were tests of an [[over-the-horizon radar]],<ref name="mystery" /> and this remained the most popular hypothesis during the [[Cold War]]. Several other theories were floated as well, including everything from jamming western broadcasts to [[Communication with submarines|submarine communications]]. The broadcast jamming theory was discarded early on when a monitoring survey showed that [[Radio Moscow]] and other pro-Soviet stations were just as badly affected by woodpecker interference as Western stations.

As more information about the signal became available, its purpose as a radar signal became increasingly obvious. In particular, its signal contained a clearly recognizable structure in each [[Phase-shift keying|BPSK]] modulated [[Pulse (signal processing)|pulse]], which was eventually identified as a 31-bit [[pseudo-random]] binary sequence with properties much like [[Barker code]]s, with a [[bit-length|bit-width]] of 100 [[μs]] resulting in a 3.1 ms pulse.<ref>{{Cite journal | title = Letter from J. P. Martinez |first=J.P. |last=Martinez | journal = Wireless World |page= 89 | date = April 1982 | url = http://www.mysterysignals.signalshed.com/Wpecker6.html | access-date = 8 April 2019 | archive-date = 8 April 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190408135329/http://www.mysterysignals.signalshed.com/Wpecker6.html | url-status = live }}</ref> The auto-correlation of this pulse/sequence results in a single 100{{nbsp}}μs pulse 31 times the amplitude of the received sequence, giving a resolution of {{convert|15|km}} (the distance light travels in 50{{nbsp}}μs) and process gain of almost 30&nbsp;dB. This system took advantage of [[pulse compression]] to increase the power of the received echoes thereby increasing the sensitivity and effective range. When a second Woodpecker appeared, located in eastern Russia, but also pointed toward the US and covering blank spots in the first system's pattern, this conclusion became inescapable. These further installations allowed for more precise pin-pointing of potential targets or missiles in multiple dimensions thanks in part to the properties of the [[Barker code]]s that allow for multiple radars operating on the same frequencies without significant interference.

In 1988, the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) conducted a study on the Woodpecker signal. Data analysis showed a pulse repetition interval (PRI) of about 90{{nbsp}}ms, a frequency range of 7 to 19{{nbsp}}MHz, a bandwidth of 0.02 to 0.8{{nbsp}}MHz, and typical transmission time of 7 minutes.

The pulses transmitted by the Woodpecker had a wide bandwidth, typically 40&nbsp;kHz. Their [[pulse-repetition frequency|repetition frequencies]] were 10, 16 and 20{{nbsp}}Hz with the most common frequency of 10{{nbsp}}Hz, while the 16 and 20{{nbsp}}Hz modes were rarely used.

===Jamming the Woodpecker===
[[File:Duga radar station within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine (09).JPG|thumb|upright|Steel structure of Duga-1 from below]]

To combat this interference, amateur radio operators attempted to [[Radio jamming|jam]] the signal by transmitting synchronized unmodulated continuous wave signals at the same pulse rate as the offending signal. They formed a club called The Russian Woodpecker Hunting Club.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Finley |first=Dave |date=7 July 1982 |url=http://www.qsl.net/n1irz/woodpeck.html |title=Radio Hams Do Battle with 'Russian Woodpecker' |journal=The Miami Herald |access-date=15 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225201714/http://www.qsl.net/n1irz/woodpeck.html |archive-date=25 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Signal disappearance===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2025}}

Starting in the late 1980s, even as the FCC was publishing studies, the signals became less frequent, and in 1989, they disappeared. Although the reasons for the eventual shutdown of the Duga systems have not been made public, the changing strategic balance with the end of the [[Cold War]] in the late 1980s may have had a part to play. Another factor perhaps was the success of the [[US-KS (satellite)|US-KS]] early-warning satellites, which began entering service in the early 1980s, and by this time had grown into a complete network. The satellite system provides immediate, direct and highly secure warnings, whereas any radar-based system is subject to jamming, and the effectiveness of OTH systems is also subject to atmospheric conditions.

According to some reports, the [[Komsomolsk-on-Amur]] installation in the [[Russian Far East]] was taken off combat alert duty in November 1989, and some of its equipment was subsequently scrapped. The original Duga-1 site lies within the {{convert|30|km}} [[Zone of alienation|Zone of Alienation]] around the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant|Chernobyl power plant]]. {{As of|2021|post=,}} the radar appears permanently deactivated and will not likely receive future maintenance because such arrangements were not included as part of the 1992 Russian and Ukrainian talks; with regards to the [[Dnepr radar|Dnepr]] early warning radar systems at [[Mukachevo Radar Station|Mukachevo]] and [[Sevastopol Radar Station|Sevastopol]], most of the antenna still stands and is often used by radio amateurs who visit the area using their own portable radio equipment.

== Locations ==
{{Location map many | Russia Khabarovsk Krai
| AlternativeMap = Russia Khabarovsk Krai location map.svg
| width = 180
| float = right
| caption = Location of Duga-2 in Khabarovsk Krai
| label = Transmitter| label_size = 90
| pos = right
| lat_deg= 50 | lat_min=23 | lat_sec=07.98 | lat_dir=N
| lon_deg= 137 | lon_min=19 | lon_sec=41.87 | lon_dir=E
| label2 = Receiver| label2_size = 90
| pos2 = left
| lat2_deg= 50 | lat2_min=53 | lat2_sec=34.66 | lat2_dir=N
| lon2_deg= 136 | lon2_min=50 | lon2_sec=12.38 | lon2_dir=E
}}
{{PanoViewer|Radar Duga.jpg|Panoramic view of the landscape surrounding Duga-1. The [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] is visible in the far left, close to the horizon.}}

The original Duga was the first experimental system.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pike |first=John |date=19 April 2018 |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/steel-yard.htm |title=5N32 Duga [Arc] Steel Yard OTH |website=GlobalSecurity.org |archive-date=12 January 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030112021513/http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/steel-yard.htm |url-status=live |access-date=3 November 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=ABM AND SPACE DEFENSE |author=A. Karpenko Nevsky Bastion |number=4 |date=1999 |pages=2–47 }}</ref> It was built outside the Black Sea port of [[Mykolaiv]] in southern [[Ukraine]], and successfully detected rocket launches from [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] about {{convert|2500|km}} away. Duga is able to track launches from the Far East and from submarines in the [[Pacific Ocean]], as the missiles fly towards [[Novaya Zemlya]] in the Arctic Ocean. This huge radar complex was restored in 2002 after a fire seriously damaged it. The transmitter was located at {{coord|46|48|26|N|32|13|12|E}} and the receiver at {{Coord|47|02|28.33|N|32|11|57.29|E|}}. It appears{{according to whom|date=March 2023}} that the original Duga transmit and receive sites near Mykolaiv were demolished in 2006.

The original Duga was supplanted by a pair of installations: western, Duga-1, and eastern, Duga-2. Duga-1 was built in northern Ukraine, between [[Liubech]] and [[Chernobyl]]-2. The receiver is located at {{Coord|51|18|19.06|N|30|03|57.35|E|}}, 12 kilometres west-north-west of Chernobyl; the transmitter is located at {{Coord|51|38|15.98|N|30|42|10.41|E|}} about {{convert|50|km}} northeast of Chernobyl (just west of [[Chernihiv]], south of [[Gomel]]).

Duga-2, the eastern system, is located near [[Komsomolsk-on-Amur]] in [[Khabarovsk Krai]], with the receiver at {{Coord|50|23|07.98|N|137|19|41.87|E|}}, some {{convert|30|km}} southeast of the city, and the transmitter at {{Coord|50|53|34.66|N|136|50|12.38|E|}}, {{convert|45|km}} north of the city.

==Media appearances==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{In popular culture|section|date=September 2025}}
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2025}}
}}

===Online gaming===
* The Ukrainian-developed computer game series ''[[S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]'' has a plot focused on the [[Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant]] and the [[Chernobyl disaster|nuclear accident]] there. The game features many actual locations in the area, including the Duga-1 array. The array itself appears in ''[[S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky]]'' in the fictional city of Limansk-13. While the 'Brain Scorcher' from ''[[S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl]]'' was inspired by theories that Duga-1 was used for mind control, it does not take the form of the real array. However, in the 2024 entry of the series ''[[S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl]]'', the site of the Duga-1 array is an explorable part of the map. In the story, the game's "Monolith" faction attempts to use Duga-1 similarly to how the "Brain Scorcher" is used in ''[[S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl]]''.
* In ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops]]'', the map "Grid" is placed in [[Pripyat]] near the Duga-1 array. A game later in the series, ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War|Cold War]]'', uses the Duga as location for a possible final mission and as a map in the Zombies game-mode Outbreak, the map being appropriately named "Duga". The said map has rappel lines that can take the player(s) up to the top or middle of the Duga, despite the actual radar array lacking this.
* The Duga antenna array is also featured on the revised map "Verdansk '84" in the game [[Call of Duty: Warzone]].
* The Duga radar is featured in the [[drone racing]] simulator Liftoff, as "The Russian Woodpecker".<ref>{{cite web |date=19 February 2020 |url=https://www.liftoff-game.com/news/update-127-released |title=Update 127 released |website=Lift-off game }}</ref>
* A Duga radar is featured in the 2017 game ''[[PUBG: Battlegrounds]]'' in a map which portrays a fictional Russian Military base.
* The Chernobyl [[Downloadable content|DLC]] for the game ''[[Spintires]]'' features a representation of the sarcophagus and an antenna array similar in appearance to Duga.
* The Duga radar is heavily featured in the virtual reality game ''Proze: Enlightenment'', a suspense/puzzle game with the theory that the radar is being used by mind controlling experiments during the 1950-60s. The game actually starts with the player ascending one of the pylons on a maintenance lift.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://signsine.com/proze-vr/ |title=PROZE VR Game |work=SignSine |access-date=4 February 2020 |archive-date=28 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128165125/http://signsine.com/proze-vr/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* A Duga radar is featured in the 2021 video game ''Chernobylite''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1016800/Chernobylite/ |title=Chernobylite on Steam |website=Store.SteamPowered.com |access-date=21 November 2020 |archive-date=30 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130112548/https://store.steampowered.com/app/1016800/Chernobylite/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===In print=== 
* [[Markiyan Kamysh]]'s book ''[[Stalking the Atomic City: Life Among the Decadent and the Depraved of Chornobyl]]'' depicts [[Disaster tourism|illegal trips]] to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, including to the Duga, and was praised by reviewers. TOP10 books of 2019 according to ''[[La Repubblica]]'' as one of the ''"Constellations of the ten books that best reflect the spirit of the times".''<ref>{{Cite web |last=De Santis |first=Raffaella |date=28 December 2019 |title=I libri più belli dell'anno ve li consiglia Robinson |language=it |trans-title=Robinson Recommends the Best Books of the Year |website=Repubblica.it |url=https://www.repubblica.it/robinson/2019/12/28/news/i_libri_piu_belli_dell_anno_ve_li_consiglia_robinson-244562196/ |access-date=10 November 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101042710/https://www.repubblica.it/robinson/2019/12/28/news/i_libri_piu_belli_dell_anno_ve_li_consiglia_robinson-244562196/ |archive-date=1 January 2020 }}</ref> [[The Guardian]] called it a "remarkable book".<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 July 2022 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/09/stalking-the-atomic-city-markiyan-kamysh-ukrainian-nuclear-chornobyl |title=Stalking the Atomic City by Markiyan Kamysh review – in search of meaning in Chornobyl's forbidden wasteland |website=the Guardian |access-date=22 August 2024 }}</ref>
* The 'Russian woodpecker' appears in Justin Scott's novel ''The Shipkiller''.

===In film and television===
* The Duga at Chernobyl was the focus of the 2015 documentary film, ''[[The Russian Woodpecker]]'', by Chad Gracia. The film includes interviews with the commander of the duga, Vladimir Musiets, as well as the Vice-Commander, the Head of the Data Center, and others involved in building and operating the radar. The documentary, which won numerous awards, also includes drone video footage of the array and handheld video footage of the surroundings as well as a climb to the top by the cinematographer, Artem Ryzhykov. The film also proposes a [[conspiracy theory]] that the [[Chernobyl disaster]] was engineered to cover up failures in the radar's design.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.russianwoodpecker.com/ |title=The Russian Woodpecker |website=The Russian Woodpecker |access-date=15 April 2015 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108114633/http://www.russianwoodpecker.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The Duga radar is featured in the films of the [[Divergent trilogy|''Divergent'' series]], where it was used as the giant wall and fence surrounding the main city. In wide shots, its structure was used to create [[computer-generated imagery]] of the superstructure and several close-up scenes were shot directly at its location.
* In episode 12 of the first season of the NBC science fiction series ''Debris'', the Duga radar array makes an appearance as a fictional array in the state of Virginia.
* The Chernobyl Duga site is featured in the [[Science Channel]] series "Mysteries of the Abandoned" (season 1, episode 1).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discovery.com/shows/mysteries-of-the-abandoned/episodes/nazi-ghost-town |title=Nazi Ghost Town |website=Discovery.com }}</ref>

==See also==
* {{Annotated link|Cobra Mist}}
* [[Container radar]] – a new Russian OTH radar with similar radio interference to the Duga
* [[Jindalee Operational Radar Network]] – a similar Australian system
* {{Annotated link|Numbers station}}
* [[UVB-76]] – a Russian radio transmitter, nicknamed "The Buzzer"

== References ==
{{Reflist|33em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite magazine |last=Headrick |first=James M. |date=1 July 1990 |title=Looking over the horizon (HF radar) |magazine=[[IEEE Spectrum]] |volume=27 |issue=7 |pages=36–39|doi=10.1109/6.58421|s2cid=40523127}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Headrick |first1=James M. |last2=Skolnik |first2=Merrill I. |date=1 January 1974 |title=Over-the-Horizon radar in the HF band |journal=Proceedings of the IEEE |volume=62 |issue=6 |pages=664–673 |doi=10.1109/PROC.1974.9506 |bibcode=1974IEEEP..62..664H |s2cid=32258331 }}
* {{cite book |last=Headrick |first=James M. |chapter=24: HF over-the-horizon radar |title=Radar Handbook |edition=2nd |editor-first=Merrill I. |editor-last=Skolnik |publication-place=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |date=1990 }}
* Kosolov, A. A., ed. Over-the-Horizon Radar (translated by W. F. Barton) [ Norton, Mass.: Artech House, 1987].
* [http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-top-secret-military-base-hidden-in-chernobyls-irradiated-forest The Top Secret Military Base Hidden in Chernobyl's Irradiated Forest]

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Duga-1 radar}}

{{Chernobyl disaster}}
{{Russian and Soviet military designation sequences}}
{{Soviet Radar}}

[[Category:1976 establishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1989 disestablishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Amateur radio history]]
[[Category:Cold War broadcasting]]
[[Category:Cold War history of the Soviet Union]]
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[[Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Military installations closed in 1989]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1976]]
[[Category:Over-the-horizon radars]]
[[Category:Science and technology in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet military radars]]