During our time in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, we had a cool opportunity to visit Duga. Of course, the entire experience was amazing, but this spot was super cool.
Duga is a Soviet built Over-The-Horizon radar system used as an early missile defense system from 1976 to 1989. When it was working, it was nicknamed the Russian Woodpecker by shortwave listeners due to its pattern of clicks and napping noises.
This thing is massive. I’m guessing here so don’t hold me to this (and I looked on the Intranet for specs but failed to final anything), but I’d say it is a couple hundred feet high and maybe a half mile long. It just when on, and on, and on…… This photo captures about a third of the entire structure.
As you can tell, it was fall at the time and I took this photo with my drone at sunset. It might not seem like such a good photo to you, but for me, it’s the memory that makes it special.
I captured a ton of video at this spot and around Chernobyl. Maybe someday I’ll edit some of that to share with you.
To view a larger version, click HERE
