Музей ракетних військ стратегічного призначення

Museum of Strategic Rocket Forces

Useful Information

Location:	Pobuzke, Kirovohrad Oblast 26555. 250 km south of Kyiv. (48.186561, 30.665079)
Open:	All year daily 9-16. [2023]
Fee:	Adults UAH 200, Children UAH 50. Descent to the command post UAH 400. [2023]
Classification:	Secret Bunker
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Museum of Strategic Rocket Forces, Pobuzke, Kirovohrad Oblast 26555, Tel: +380-956-548-202, Tel: +380-96-470-3507. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1994	Ukraine agrees to destroy the nuclear weapons, and to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
1994-1997	silos near Pervomaisk decommissioned and the missiles returned to Russia.
30-OCT-2001	Strategic Missile Forces Museum opened to the public.

Description

The Музей ракетних військ стратегічного призначення (Museum of Strategic Rocket Forces) is an underground bunker, a former Unified Command Post (UCP). It is also called the Музей РВСН (Museum of the Red Army) as it was operated by the Red Army. The site is part of the National Military History Museum in Kyiv. The exhibition space is located in the former administrative building and has exhibits ranging from World War I weapons to equipment from other Unified Command Posts. There are informative models of a launch room and sleeping quarters. Machinery, equipment, special gear, and lots of photographs show the conditions during the Cold War. The outdoor exhibition includes several military vehicles, trucks for the transportation of missiles and a T-34 tank. And there are decommissioned rockets, at least the hulls. The underground part of the museum has an RT-23/SS-24 missile silo, 155 m of underground passageways between the buildings, and an Unified Command Post (UCP). While the museum is visited self-guided, the underground parts are visited on guided tours. The guides are former army officers which served at this site. There are english tours, and they are very detailed and informative. On site is also a store which sells military equipment.

The Unified Command Post (UCP) was designed by the Central Bureau for Transportation Technology. It is a huge vertical tube, 33 m high and 3.3 m in diameter, with 12 levels connected by ladders and an elevator outside. In case of alarm the elevator was put in parking position at the top. The massive structure with a weight of 125 tons was standing on hydraulic feet inside a massive concrete tube. Tthis bunker was obviously built to survive a direct hit. It was also designed to run autonomously for 45 days in case of a nuclear war. For this purpose it had diesel generators, air filters, sleeping and resting quarters. There was communication equipment, missile control and launching equipment. The actual command post on sublevel 11 was manned by two officers on 6 h shifts, there were two crews. It contains the missile remote control, monitoring and communications panels.

The tours include a ride down with the elevator to the command post in pairs. The visitors take a seat and simulate a fake rocket launch. Both visitors turn their launch keys simultaneously, and the controls light up and the RT-23/SS-24 Molodets ICBM rockets are on their way.

At the dissolution of the Soviet Union, about one-third of the Soviet nuclear arsenal was located in Ukraine. These were 130 UR-100N/RS-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six warheads each, 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs, each with ten warheads, and 33 heavy bombers. A total of 1,700 warheads remained on Ukrainian territory. In 1994 Ukraine agreed to destroy the weapons, and to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The missiles were returned to Russia.

The 46th Rocket Division of the 43rd Rocket Army of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces was located around the city of Pervomaisk in the Mykolaiv Oblast. 40 underground launch silos for the RT-23 ICBMs were scattered across the fields, surrounded by a fence and guarded. Groups of nine or ten silos were connected to a Unified Command Post manned by several military officers. 30 silos were destroyed with the help of foreign experts through the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program.