The application of declassified KH-7 GAMBIT satellite photographs to studies of Cold War material culture: a case study from the former Soviet Union.

The application of declassified KH-7 GAMBIT satellite photographs to studies of Cold War material culture: a case study from the former Soviet Union. Introduction Over the past 10 years there has been a growing interest in thematerial culture of recent conflicts as many of the militaryinstallations that form the twentieth-century's 'defenceheritage' are being lost (Dobinson et al. 1997; Schofield 2005;Schofield et al. 2002). In the case of the Cold War (James 2002;Schofield & Cocroft 2007; Schofield et al. 2006), whilst much hasbeen written about the history of the conflict and the mobile weaponsystems that were used by the armed forces of the combatants (e.g.Zaloga 2007), much less is known about the fixed installations andfacilities that were used by these forces. A number of recent works haveaddressed aspects of the archaeology of the Cold War in England(Schofield & Anderton 2000; Clarke 2005; Cocroft & Thomas 2003;Tuck & Cocroft 2005) and the USA (Beck 2002; O'Rourke et al.2004; Whorton 2002), but with the exception of the Berlin Wall (Baker1993; Dolff-Bonekamper 2002; Feversham & Schmidt 2007; Klausmeier& Schmidt 2006), the sites of a Soviet Army training area (Boulton2007; Buchinger & Metzler 2006) and a nuclear weapons bunker(Boulton 2006) located in the former German Democratic Republic, verylittle has appeared in the English language English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. literature about the ColdWar material of the former Eastern Bloc During the Cold War, the term Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) was used to refer to the Soviet Union and its allies in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and—until the early 1960s—Albania). countries. Compared with the wide range of sources available to thearchaeologist investigating Cold War remains in the United Kingdom (seeCocroft & Thomas 2003: 270), the archaeologist investigating theformer Soviet Union is far less fortunate. Many sites remain military'closed areas' precluding field-based observations, aerialphotography This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.This article has been tagged since September 2007. is prohibited and there is an absence of ethnographic andoral history sources. Whilst some studies based on Russian languagesources are available (e.g. Podvig 2001; Zaloga 2002), they tend toaddress the programmatic issues of the development of weapon systemsrather than their physical details and supporting infrastructure.However, over the past few years a growing amount of written materialhas become available in the form of formerly highly classifiedintelligence assessments that were produced by the US intelligencecommunity during the Cold War and which include descriptions of theinfrastructure supporting the weapon systems as understood at the timethey were written. In addition to the intelligence assessments, declassified de��clas��si��fy?tr.v. de��clas��si��fied, de��clas��si��fy��ing, de��clas��si��fiesTo remove official security classification from (a document).de��clas USintelligence satellite photographs covering the former Soviet Union andWarsaw Pact Warsaw Pactor Warsaw Treaty OrganizationMilitary alliance of the Soviet Union, Albania (until 1968), Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, formed in 1955 in response to West Germany's entry into NATO. countries have been in the public domain for nearly 10years. The archaeological potential of photographs acquired in the 1960sand early 1970s by the CORONA programme is now well established (seeFowler 2004 for a recent review). Less well known are the photographsthat were acquired by the KH-7 GAMBIT and KH-9 mapping camera See: air cartographic camera. programmesand which were declassified in 2002 (Fowler 2003). With the former beingtargeted specifically to gain high resolution photographs of militaryand other installations, the GAMBIT photographs have the potential to bevery well suited to support Cold War archaeological studies, much asaerial photographs acquired some 50 years earlier are now being used tostudy aspects of the archaeology of the First World War (Stichelbaut2006). In this paper, a GAMBIT photograph acquired in the mid-1960scovering an area to the south-west of Moscow is used to demonstrate thepotential of the imagery for the historical study of the installationsassociated with the former Soviet Union's first generation ofsurface to air missile (SAM) systems. GAMBIT satellite photographs The KH-7 GAMBIT programme was the US intelligence community'sfirst high resolution surveillance or 'spotting' satellitewhich complemented the area search capability of CORONA with photographsthat had initially a best spatial resolution (Data West Research Agency definition: see GIS glossary.) A measure of the accuracy or detail of a graphic display, expressed as dots per inch, pixels per line, lines per millimeter, etc. It is a measure of how fine an image is, usually expressed in dots per inch (dpi). of 1.2m, subsequentlyimproving to approximately 0.6m (Fowler 2004; Richelson 2003). Incontrast to the panoramic cameras carried by CORONA, the GAMBITsatellite appears to have carried a single strip camera that exposed acontinuous photograph of the terrain below by passing the film over astationary slit in the focal plane The plane, perpendicular to the optical axis of the lens, in which images of points in the object field of the lens are focused. of the lens at a speed synchronisedwith the velocity of the ground image across the focal plane. The slitwidth would have been sufficiently small sufficiently small - suitably small such that at any instant theimage of only a narrow 'ribbon' of terrain would have beenexposed on the film. As the satellite moved forward, a long continuousphotograph would have been 'painted' onto the film by thesuccessive integration of these narrow ribbons. The camera appears tohave been capable of acquiring both vertical and oblique photographs, aswell as some stereo coverage, and used predominantly black and whitefilm; although a small quantity of colour photographs were alsoacquired. The programme was operational between July 1963 and June 1967,returning film on 34 of 38 missions with useable images being obtainedfrom 30 of the missions. Approximately 19 000 frames of variable length,totalling over 3000 linear metres, were returned covering strips of theground approximately 20km wide and normally 50km long, but occasionallyextending to over 740km in length. Like the photographs acquired by the CORONA system, GAMBITphotographs are available for purchase at modest cost (currently someUS$30 per flame) flora the United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. (USGS USGS United States Geological Survey (US Department of the Interior))through the website (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov) where coveragefootprints and low resolution preview images can be seen. Originallyavailable as analogue film products, in 2004 the USGS ceased providingtraditional photographs and now provides CORONA and GAMBIT photographsas digital images. When scanned at the highest resolution available(3600dpi, 7[micro]m) the GAMBIT images have pixel sizes equivalent toapproximately 2-4m on the ground depending on the altitude of thesatellite at the rime of image acquisition and, by analogy with anevaluation of scanned CORONA photographs (Fowler 2005), are broadlycomparable with the film products that were originally available fromthe USGS. Declassified Cold War intelligence assessments Declassified intelligence assessments that were produced during theCold War by the US intelligence community are available from the CentralIntelligence Agency's (CIA CIA:see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). ) Freedom of Information Act website(http://www.foia.cia.gov) and the CIA Records Search Tool (CREST) at theUS National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The CIA websiteincludes many thousands of pages of scanned documents, albeit atrelatively low resolution, that can be searched and downloaded over theInternet. The documents of particular interest to archaeologistsstudying the Cold War are the various National Intelligence Estimatesthat provided periodic overviews of intelligence relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accmanyaspects of the Soviet Union's military capabilities (e.g. CIA1971). The CREST, located at the NARA facility in College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, USA. The population was 24,657 at the 2000 census. It is best known as the home of the University of Maryland, College Park, and since 1994 the city has also been home to the "Archives II" facility of the U.S. ,includes over 8.7 million pages of documents in a full-text searchabledatabase Refers to databases on the Web that are searchable by typing in a query. The term is quite redundant because all databases are searchable. In fact, that is one of their major features. (CIA 2003). Compared with the documents on the CIA website, theCREST records have been scanned at a higher resolution, although theoverall quality of the reproduction of the photographs and illustrationsis still relatively poor. Of particular interest to the investigation ofCold War material culture are the various Photographic Interpretation See: imagery interpretation. Reports (PIR "Parent in room." See digispeak. ) that were prepared by the CIA and the NationalPhotographic Interpretation Center (NPIC NPIC National Pesticide Information Center (formerly NPTN)NPIC National Passport Information CenterNPIC National Photographic Interpretation CenterNPIC National Photographic Intelligence Center ). These were based mainly onthe exploitation of CORONA and GAMBIT satellite photographs and whilstmany specific details have been redacted from these documents onsecurity grounds, they nonetheless provide invaluable information, inparticular the geographical locations, names and probable functions ofvarious installations as well as interpretive illustrations. The scopeof these documents and their potential utility to the study of the ColdWar is well illustrated by a PIR from CORONA Mission 1024 that was flownin 1965 (NPIC 1966). This document covers some 279 installations locatedacross the USSR USSR:see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. , ranging from those associated with missile systems andelectronics/communications to general military installations andindustry, and includes for each a geographical location and a briefsummary of changes observed since previous coverage. Other documents(e.g. NPIC 1967) cover specific installations in considerable detailincluding line drawings and details of the chronological development ofthe installations, albeit without actual dates for the latter as thesehave been redacted from the documents. Case study--the Moscow S-25/SA-1 SAM system The development of the first operational Soviet SAM system has beenwell documented (Zaloga 1997; 2007). In summary, alarmed by reports fromKorea of the effectiveness of US B-29 bomber attacks, in late 1950Stalin ordered the deployment of the first operational Soviet SAM systemto protect Moscow from massed air raid threats. Known as the S-25 Berkut(Golden Eagle) system and arbitrarily designated SA-1 by USintelligence, construction of missile launch sites around Moscowcommenced in 1953. Deployment of the system was begun in 1954 whilst thesystem was still undergoing development and the entire complex wasoperational by 1956. A total of 56 sites were deployed in a layereddefence of two concentric rings with radii ra��di��i?n.A plural of radius.radiiNouna plural of radius of approximately 45km and85km from the centre of Moscow together with seven support facilities(Figure 1). Each launch site contained a launch area of 60 launchpositions for the V-300 SAM, nicknamed 'GUILD' by USintelligence, joined by a road network in a characteristic'herringbone' arrangement together with a guidance area forthe B-200 radar bunker (nicknamed 'YO-YO' by US intelligence)and a support area. Preliminary target tracking information was providedto the Moscow SAM defences by 10 early warning radar early warning radarn.Radar based at the boundary of a defended area to detect incoming enemy missiles or aircraft in time to allow deployment of a countermeasure.Noun 1. sites deployeduniformly around the city in a circle with a radius of approximately370km (NPIC 1964a). The mobile component of the system was the V-300 missile of whichsome 32 000 were produced (Figure 2). This single stage liquid propelledrocket had a maximum speed of the order of Mach 3.5 and an interceptrange of 37-55km depending on the approach profile and type of target.Each S-25/SA-1 launch site appears to have been capable of engaging asmany as 20 targets simultaneously, initially with only one missile pertarget but later increasing to three missiles per target therebyincreasing considerably the system's kill probability A measure of the probability of destroying a target. . By the time it entered service, the S-25/SA-1 system wasapproaching obsolescence due to rapid improvements in aviationtechnology, including the development of supersonic bombers, stand-offmissiles and ballistic missiles. Nevertheless, the S-25/SA-1 remained inservice until the 1980s when it was replaced by the considerably morecapable S-300P/SA-10 'GRUMBLE' system (Zaloga 1997). Imaging the sites Two of the S-25/SA-1 launch sites, designated C25-1 and E24-1 by USintelligence (NHC NHC National Hurricane CenterNHC Naval Historical CenterNHC National Housing ConferenceNHC National Hurricane ConferenceNHC National Healthcare CorporationNHC No Homers Club (Simpsons cartoon)1964b) are covered by a photograph that was acquiredby GAMBIT mission 4028 on 15 May 1966. The frame covers an area of some17 x 46km to the south-west of Moscow (Figure 1) and has a spatialresolution estimated to be of the order of 2-3m. In addition, a KH-9photograph acquired on 29 May 1979 by mission 1215-5 and covering anarea of 127 x 254km to the west of Moscow with a spatial resolution ofthe order of 10m shows the two S-25/SA-1 launch sites in their broaderlandscape context. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Launch site C25-1 The C25-1 launch site, one of the 22 launch sites located in theinner ring some 50km from the centre of Moscow, can be clearlyidentified on the GAMBIT image on account of its characteristicherringbone pattern (Figure 3a). Located in dense woodland beside theGolitsyno to Kubinka highway, the launch area covers an area of some147ha and is orientated on an azimuth azimuth(ăz`əməth), in astronomy, one coordinate in the altazimuth coordinate system. It is the angular distance of a body measured westward along the celestial horizon from the observer's south point. of approximately 245[degrees] fromthe centre of Moscow. The guidance area for the B-200 radar bunker issome 1.5km to the east in the direction of Moscow and a support area islocated approximately 1 km to the east of the guidance area. The launch area consists of a paved perimeter road, a pavedcentreline road, 20 paved rib roads, 10 launch segments, and 60 launchpositions (Figure 3b) and is almost identical to the herringbone sitelocated at the Kapustin Yar/Vladimirovka Missile Test Centre that wasthe prototype for the system (NPIC 1967). Each launch segment isconstructed to a similar pattern and consists of six launch positions intwo saw-tooth arrangements and an earth-covered control bunker (Figure4). At some of the launch positions, it is possible that V-300 missilescan be seen erected on their launch platforms as well as missiles ontheir transporters, although the quality of the photograph precludestheir exact identification. Based on the prototype herringbone site atKapustin Yar Kapustin Yar (Russian Капустин Яр; today Знаменск/Znamensk) is a Russian rocket launch and development site in the Astrakhan Oblast, between Volgograd and Astrakhan in the , each control bunker would have been connected by a buriedcable to each of the six launch positions and also a buried cable wouldhave connected the five control bunkers on each side of the centrelineroad. Similarly, the most easterly pair of control bunkers would havebeen connected by cable to the guidance area, although because of theextensive tree cover none of these are apparent on the GAMBITphotograph. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Near the entrance to the launch site is a large drive-throughcheckout building, together with a second building adjacent to a pavedarea (Figure 3). A further three buildings can be seen within the launcharea together with what appears to be three cylindrical tank-likestructures located at the apex of the 'V' formed by theperimeter road and could be associated with the fuelling of the V-300missiles. To the north of the site, an earth revetment RevetmentA facing or veneer of stone, concrete, or other materials constructed on a sloping embankment, dike, or beach face to protect it against erosion caused by waves or currents. can be seen to beunder construction and is an example of a range of modifications thatwere made to many of the herringbone sites in the early 1960s (NPIC1964c). The guidance area is connected to the launch area by a concreteroad and comprises an earth-covered bunker some 55m long and 41m widewith a concrete apron on the side facing the launch area together withadditional smaller buildings to the east of the bunker (Figure 5a).Whilst details of the structures are difficult to ascertain from theGAMBIT photograph, a perspective drawing of a bunker based onclandestine ground photographs appears in a declassified CREST record(CIA 1956) and provides more detail including the locations of aerialsand air vents (Figure 5b). Within the bunker would have been the mainBESM BESM Big Eyes, Small Mouths (Guardians of Order Anime RPG)analogue fire control computer together with 20 guidance consoles.In front of the bunker on the concrete apron, five dark rectangularareas of unknown function are apparent and are shown recessed into theground in the perspective drawing. [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] Although not identifiable on the GAMBIT photograph, at the front ofthe bunker facing the launch area would have been the B-200('YO-YO') fire control radar Noun 1. fire control radar - naval radar that controls the delivery of fire on a military targetnaval radar - naval equipment consisting of a shipboard radar , the two antennae of which werecapable of simultaneously tracking targets and scanning for additionaltargets within a 54[degrees] arc in both the vertical and horizontalplanes and would send guidance signals to the V-300 missiles launched tointercept the targets. A further 1km to the east is the support area for the launch site(Figure 6) that appears to have been subdivided into two main areascomprising of accommodation and technical buildings, all connected by aroad system. The accommodation area includes some 30 family dwellingsand five barrack BARRACK. By this term, as used in Pennsylvania, is understood an erection of upright posts supporting a sliding roof, usually of thatch. 5 Whart. R. 429. buildings and would have provided housing for around 30officers and 450 enlisted men that were assigned to the launch site(Zaloga 1997: 36). The technical area comprised some seven largebuildings that would have provided administrative and technical supportto the launch site. Further support, including the assembly, storage andmaintenance of the V-300 missiles would have been provided by a supportfacility some 6km to the north at Golitsyno. This was one of seven suchfacilities that were deployed around Moscow near the inner ring road(see Figure 1). [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] Launch site E24-1 A second 'herringbone' launch site (E24-1) is covered bythe KH-7 GAMBIT satellite photograph and is one of the 34 launch sitesthat were located in the outer ring some 85km from the centre of Moscow(Figure 7a). Located in dense woodland some 16km to the west ofNaro-Fominsk, the launch area is orientated on an azimuth ofapproximately 23W from Moscow with the guidance area located some 1.5kmto the east. A support area for the site is located to the north of thelaunch area and is connected to it by a road. Although the launch area (Figure 7b) is superficially similar inlayout to launch site C25-1 with a perimeter road, a centreline road andrib roads, there are significant differences between the two launchsites. Firstly, access to the launch area is via the south-western endof the launch area and the northern perimeter road rather than by thecheckout building at the north-eastern end of the launch area. Secondly,the 'V' shape in the perimeter road is located at the end ofthe launch area 'herringbone' closest to Moscow rather than atthe opposite end in the case of launch site C25-1. Thirdly, a notch onthe north side of the launch area has truncated two of the rib roads andhas reduced the number of launch positions at the site to 58 comparedwith 60 at launch site C25-1. Finally, at the time the photograph wastaken, construction was underway at the western end of the'herringbone' of two launch sites, described as'triads' by US intelligence, that were associated with thefirst generation of the Moscow Anti-Ballistic Missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles. A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. (ABM) system (NPIC1964d; Zaloga 1989). When complete, each launch site would havecomprised one large and two small radar buildings with spherical radomeson their roofs, together with eight launch positions for'GALOSH' interceptor missiles. [FIGURE 7 OMITTED] [FIGURE 8 OMITTED] The reason for the differences in the layouts of the E24-1 andC25-1 launch areas is unknown. However, variations in the localtopography may have been responsible for the positioning of the notch onthe north side of the launch area since an area of steeply rising groundimpinges on the launch area at this location. At the time that theGAMBIT photograph was acquired, this area was being used as a borrow pit Noun 1. borrow pit - a pit created to provide earth that can be used as fill at another sitecavity, pit - a sizeable hole (usually in the ground); "they dug a pit to bury the body" for construction activities elsewhere on the launch site. The support area to the north of the launch area comprises bothaccommodation and technical buildings (Figure 8) and bears somesimilarity to the layout of the support area associated with launch siteC25-1. However, many of the family dwellings of the accommodation areaappear to have been cleared in preparation for further building work andfive large multi-storey accommodation buildings are present. Buildingsof this type were added to the support areas of S-25/SA-1 sites prior tothe construction of 'triads' associated with the Moscow ABMsystem (NPIC 1965) and were presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. built to provide accommodationfor the additional personnel that would have manned the'triad' facilities. Heterogeneity of launch area layouts A comparison of the layouts of the launch areas of the 15 S-25/SA-1herringbone sites located in the south-west quadrant of the Moscowdefences (NPIC 1964b) indicates further heterogeneity in their layout.Whilst the majority of the launch areas correspond to the layouts forsites C25-1 and E24-1, arbitrarily designated Types I and IIrespectively in this study, there are also a number of significantvariations in the layout of others (Figure 9). In general, the Type Isites, and their variants, were located in the inner ring closest toMoscow, whereas the Type II sites were located in the outer ring. Thelimited coverage in azimuth of the 'YO-YO' radar resulted in aneed to locate the launch sites at fixed intervals around Moscow inorder to provide a uniform defence. Consequently, the plan-forms of thevarious sites were affected by terrain features and drainage patterns,as illustrated by the notch in the road layout of site E24-1. However,such influences of local topography do not necessarily account for thevariations in layout between the Types I and II sites which appear to bemore deliberate in their design. These variations would warrant furtherinvestigation to determine whether they also apply to sites in the innerand outer rings of the other three quadrants of Moscow's defences. Impact and subsequent use The construction of the infrastructure associated with theS-25/SA-1 system had a major impact on the landscape around Moscow. Ithas been estimated that the creation in 1953-1955 of the 56 launchsites, together with the two ring roads that were designed to provideready access to the launch sites, consumed the equivalent of an entireyear's production of concrete giving an indication of the scale andpriority of the programme (Zaloga 1997). In addition to the physicalimpact, the 56 launch sites would have provided accommodation for some27 000 men that were required to operate the system, the vast majorityof which would have been conscripts undertaking their national service. Despite the S-25/SA-1 system having been retired from service over25 years ago, traces of the infrastructure can still be easilyidentified on recent satellite images, such as those readily availablefrom the Google Earth A 3D mapping program from Google that covers the entire globe from satellite images. Requiring a download for Windows, Mac and Linux desktops, a street address can be searched, and the views can be zoomed down to the individual building all the way up to a satellite's view of the globe. and NASA World Wind World Wind is a free open source virtual globe developed by NASA and open source community for use on personal computers running Microsoft Windows. The program overlays NASA and USGS satellite imagery, aerial photography, topographic maps and publicly available GIS data on 3D sites (Beck 2006). Highresolution QuickBird coverage of the two launch sites considered in thecase study illustrates the differing outcomes of the two sites. Launchsite C25-1 is now a settlement that provides dwellings to some of thelarge number of Moscow's urbanites that have some kind of summerresidence outside the city (Ioffe & Nefedova 1998) but retainselements of the distinctive 'herringbone' arrangement of theformer launch area in the layout of its road network (Figure 10a). Asimilar settlement can be seen at the location of launch site C22-1,some 30km to the south-east, and where ground photographs on GoogleEarth indicate that some of the dwellings are of a relatively superiorstandard. In contrast, launch site E24-1 continues to be used as amilitary facility (Figure 10b) and comprises one of the eight launchsites of the current system that provides the ABM defences of Moscow.The support areas for the two S-25/SA-1 launch sites likewise have haddiffering outcomes. Whilst that providing support to site C25-1 appearsto have been vacated and is no longer used, that supporting site E24-1has undergone further development with additional accommodation beingprovided since the 1966 GAMBIT photograph in order to support thecontinuing activities at the site. [FIGURE 9 OMITTED] In addition to the S-25/SA-1 launch sites, many more militaryfacilities were built around Moscow during the Cold War. Records in theCREST database (CIA 1965a; 1965b; NPIC 1964e) indicate that in the areacovered by the particular GAMBIT photograph used in the case study,these facilities included barracks and training areas at Naro-Fominsk,Alabino and Kubinka, the latter including two S-75/SA-2'GUIDELINE' missile training sites, a S-125/SA-3'GOA' low level SAM site close to the S-25/SA-1 launch siteE24-1 and the Dunay-3/'DOG HOUSE' radar associated with theMoscow ABM system located near Naro-Fominsk. The receiver complex of thelatter was a massive inverted V-flame structure that dominated thelandscape by rising to nearly 100m above the surrounding area. All ofthese facilities are clearly visible on the GAMBIT photograph, althoughwithout the benefit of the CREST records the best interpretation of manyof them would be 'probable military facility' on account oftheir appearance. [FIGURE 10 OMITTED] Discussion As demonstrated by this case study, declassified GAMBIT satellitephotographs represent a unique source of overhead imagery that can beused to investigate the Cold War sites of the former Soviet Union.Indeed, prior to this study very little had appeared in the publishedliterature about the nature of the S-25/SA-1 SAM launch sites other thanstatements that they had a distinctive 'herringbone'appearance (e.g. Zaloga 1997: 36). Interpretation of the GAMBITphotograph covering launch sites C25-1 and E24-1 has permitted thedescription of the two sites and their support areas in relatively finedetail and has demonstrated that there is some heterogeneity in thelayout of the launch areas of the sites. Whilst GAMBIT photographs represent the highest quality USdeclassified images that are available to the Cold War archaeologist,their temporal coverage is limited to the period 1963 to 1967. Lowerresolution photographs acquired by the CORONA system extend the temporalcoverage back to 1960 and forward to 1972. After 1972, researchersstudying the Cold War are limited to photographs acquired by the mappingcamera that was carried on some KH-9 satellite missions between 1973 and1980 but which are fewer in number. In the context of the developing global awareness of the Cold Warheritage and the desire to expand that interest into the significantterritory of the former Eastern Bloc (Schofield & Cocroft 2007), thepresent case study has but touched the surface. By adapting elements ofthe taxonomy used to classify Cold War sites in England (Cocroft 2007),some indication can be gained of the nature and scale of Cold War sitesin the former Soviet Union (see Table 1 athttp://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/fowler/index.html). With theirwealth of information, CREST records, in particular the photographicinterpretation reports summarising new and changed sites identified fromCORONA missions, have great potential to be used to populate a gazetteer gazetteer(găz'ĭtēr`), dictionary or encyclopedia listing alphabetically the names of places, political divisions, and physical features of the earth and giving some information about each. of potential sites for further investigation. Using such a gazetteer asa theme within a Geographical Information System Geographical Information System - Geographic Information System to target areas forexamination, the unique and extensive archive of CORONA and GAMBITphotographs can be used to take forward studies of the Cold War in ahighly cost-effective manner. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Jeff Hartley of the National Archives and RecordsAdministration for providing copies of the CREST records that have beenkey to the interpretation of the GAMBIT photograph and to Rog Palmer forhis comments on an early iteration of this paper. The constructivecomments of the two referees are greatly appreciated. Received: 4 September 2007; Accepted: 10 October 2007; Revised: 2January 2008 References BAKER, F. 1993. The Berlin Wall: production, preservation andconsumption of a twentieth-century monument. Antiquity 67: 709-33. BECK, A. 2006. Google Earth and World Wind: remote sensing Deriving digital models of an area on the earth. Using special cameras from airplanes or satellites, either the sun's reflections or the earth's temperature is turned into digital maps of the area. for themasses? Antiquity 80:http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/beck/index.html (page last accessedon 13 April 2007). BECK, C.M. 2002. 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