CIA-UAP-011: The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range
This released document records that the Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range includes facilities, work areas, security fencing, the regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142). The file preserves the source account or analysis but does not independently establish interpretations beyond the cited record. This document is useful as an officially released artifact because it preserves the file's provenance and lets its claims be compared with related Release 03 records.
- File
- Document · Release 03
- Date
- December, 1973
- Location
- USSR
- Extent
- 3 pages
Search This File
Probed Assessment
This released document records that the Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range includes facilities, work areas, security fencing, the regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142). The file preserves the source account or analysis but does not independently establish interpretations beyond the cited record.
Key takeaways
- The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range includes facilities, work areas, security fencing, the regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142).
- The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range is associated with System-75 (SA-2) and System-300/Aldan (ABM-1 GALOSH) warheads.
- There is rumored laser weapon research at the Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range.
Why it matters
CIA-UAP-011, The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range is an officially released 3-page record with searchable page text, page-specific claim locators, dated events where supported, and document-level provenance.
Corroboration
The release establishes official provenance for CIA-UAP-011, The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range, but its reported observations, judgments, and interpretations remain source claims unless supported by independent records.
Open questions
- • Which companion records or contemporaneous sources, if any, independently corroborate the document’s key claims?
Probed separates this editorial assessment from the source claims below. It summarizes what the released artifact supports; it is not independent verification.
Official Description from War.gov
This CIA Intelligence Information Report from December 1973 provides information on the Soviet Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range, including details about its facilities, weapons systems (System-75 SA-2 and System-300/Aldan warheads), rumored laser weapon research, and unidentified aerial phenomenon observed at the site. A more redacted version of this report has been available on CIA's public website.
Preserved verbatim as source metadata. This wording is separate from Probed’s file-specific description and assessment.
File Context
Related entities
Release provenance
- Release
- Release 03
- Official ID
- release-03-file-020-cia-uap-011-the-sary-shagan-weapons-testing-range
- Cleared
- Jun 12, 2026
Related coverage
Referenced Timeline
Source reports green phenomenon at Site 7
The CIA information report dates the source’s observation to one evening in late summer 1973; the account continues on the following page.
Source Claims
Claims are attributed to the released source and remain distinct from Probed’s assessment and tracker findings.
The CIA labels the Sary Shagan file an information report rather than finally evaluated intelligence.
THIS IS AN INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE.
The report describes facilities, security fencing, regional headquarters V/Ch 03080 and warhead checkout unit V/Ch 03142 at Sary Shagan.
the regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142)
The source says System-300/Aldan warheads were checked at Site 4 and transported to Site 35 for launch.
The System-300/Aldan warheads after being checked at Site 4 were taken to Site 35 for launching.
The report distinguishes the source’s uncertainty about the System-300/Aldan names from his identification of the missile as ABM-1/GALOSH in reference material.
Source identified the System-300/Aldan missile in available reference material as the ABM-1/GALOSH.
The source describes a System-300/Aldan warhead approximately two meters long, 80–100 centimeters wide and 400 kilograms in weight.
The warhead for the System-300/Aldan missile was about two meters long and 80 to 100 centimeters in diameter.
The source describes System-75 warheads containing roughly 700 cassettes, each holding 200–300 small metal balls.
Warheads for the System-75 [SA-2] missile had approximately 700 grey cassettes
A field comment says the source lacked knowledge of nuclear warheads and described his department’s work as experimental.
Source had no knowledge regarding nuclear warheads.
The report labels the alleged laser experiments hearsay and gives no location or technical detail beyond powerful antennas.
According to hearsay, experiments involving laser weapons were being conducted at an unknown location at the range.
The CIA records a source’s sighting of a bright green circular object or mass from Site 7 at Sary Shagan.
an unidentified sharp (bright) green circular object or mass in the sky.
The witness placed the green phenomenon west of Site 7 at an elevation angle of about 70 degrees; its altitude and diameter were undetermined.
The object was situated west of the site at an angle of sighting of approximately 70 degrees.
The witness reported that the circle expanded within 10–15 seconds, developed concentric rings and lost its coloring within minutes.
Within 10 to 15 seconds of observation, the green circle widened and within a brief period of time several green concentric circles formed around the mass.
The report records no associated sound and says the witness offered neither an identification nor further details.
There was no sound, such as an explosion, associated with the phenomenon.
Source Material & Evidence
Research Map
Lines appear only when two entities share a row-level source claim or dated timeline event. Unconnected nodes remain visible without implying a relationship.