Shateikia ground missile base Infrastructure

In the Plunge district, on both sides of Šateikiai town, in the forest massifs, in 1960. The Šateikiai ground-based medium-range missile launch base was built. One of the 4 bases of this type that operated in Lithuania.

The base was equipped with ground launch sites for four R-12, R-12U (SS-4 Sandal) medium-range ballistic missiles (one of the most popular in the USSR). Ballistic missiles were stored in reinforced concrete hangars on the territory of the Šateikiai forest military unit. The machines were parked in the hangars, and one R12U missile was installed on their platforms. According to the command, the machines had to go to the specified place, and the rockets were launched in the direction of the dictated coordinates. At the signal, the missiles were about to be launched into the countries of the European part of the NATO bloc.

in 1962 September - 1963 in January, during the Caribbean crisis, when the tension between the USA and the USSR reached its peak, nuclear missiles from the Shateikii missile launch base were transported by train cars to Sevastopol, where they were loaded onto cargo ships and transported to Central Cuba (Havana). Soldiers were building rockets in the forests of the center of the island of Cuba. This operation was called Operation Anadyris, the shipment of missiles and other weapons to Cuba.

The next date when the highest level of readiness was announced at the base was 1968. the Prague Spring (events in Czechoslovakia), when rockets were directed towards the West German Federation, because it was expected that the countries of the NATO bloc would support the Czechoslovak rebels with arms.

Missiles were removed from the Šateikiai ground-based missile launch base around 1978, when it was already considered obsolete, and its maintenance was irrational. The closure of the base was also prompted by the fact that in the 20th century 8 Dec. help it was already clear that the locations of the stationary missile launch bases had been identified by US intelligence.

It is interesting that later in the base, in a small reinforced concrete hermetic building surrounded by several barbed wire fences, tactical projectiles with a nuclear charge, intended for firing from "Pions", were stored. The explosive power of one such projectile is estimated at 2 kilotons. For comparison: nuclear bombs "Little Boy", 1945 August 6 dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima (Japan), the equivalent yield of energy released was equal to 13-16 kilotons. They could have appeared in Šateikia in 1981. at the end

The 384th High Power Artillery Brigade was also stationed in Šateikiai. The brigade had self-propelled howitzers 2S7 "Pion" of 203 mm caliber. Their purpose is to attack the rear of the enemy, destroy important objects at a distance of 47-55 kilometers. These tactical projectiles with a nuclear charge could have been exported from the territory of Lithuania in July 1992. The plan of the withdrawal of the troops of the Russian Federation by railway transport provides information that the chemical assets of the 384th Heavy Artillery Brigade were transported in 36 covered wagons. It was probably nuclear explosives.

After the missile launch base was abandoned, the structures fell into disrepair. Currently, when visiting the territory, you can still find the remains of 6 reinforced concrete warehouses (hangars), as well as endless ground rocket launch sites that were overgrown with bushes. The entire area of the former base is still carved out by a network of roads covered with concrete slabs.