News Early missile attack blindness

[SiberianTiger]

http://russianforces.org/blog/2010/09/only_two_satellites_left_in_ru.shtml

One of the satellites of the Russian space-based early-warning system, Cosmos-2440, has most likely completed its operations. The geostationary satellite launched in June 2008 has been drifting off its station at 80 degrees East since February 2010, when it failed to perform an orbit correction. The satellite is currently at the point of about 75 degrees East. The drift does not appear to be a transfer to a different station - this kind of maneuvers are done differently.

With the loss of Cosmos-2440, Russia's space-based early-warning system is down to two satellites on highly-elliptical orbits - Cosmos-2430 (launched 23 October 2007, NORAD catalog number 32268) and Cosmos-2446 (HEO, 2 December 2008, 33447). These satellites appear to be functioning normally - they performed their regular orbit-correction maneuvers around 15 July 2010 and 18 August 2010 respectively.

From an analysis performed on NORAD's TLE's, Cosmos-2379 satellite (US-KMO type) has also left its GEO position. The [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oko"]US-KS "Oko"[/ame] Cosmos-2422 is also reportedly defunct. A nominal complement of Oko satellites is 9 in various orbital planes, supported by a number of US-KMO's. Having just two operable ones is unprecedented since the 70's and opens large time gaps when only OTH radars are capable of detecting incoming missiles. From Russian standpoint, the door for the possible disaster is half open, if not yet open widely.

The next scheduled supplements to the constellation shall be launching of Cosmos-2469 on September 30, 2010 (to be described soon) to a Molniya orbit and one US-KMO to GEO in 2011. But these satellites are rumored to be last in the stock.

What do they say about a doomsday in 2012?