CIA Intelligence Information Report: The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range (Release 3 — Less Redacted Version), 1973

Source file: CIA-UAP-011-The_Sary_Shagan_Weapons_Testing_Range.pdf Originating agency: Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Operations Report number: FIRK-311/01638-77 Classification: CONFIDENTIAL (Approved for Release 2026) Date of Information (DOI): November 1972 – November 1973 Acquired: Germany Date Distributed: 22 December 1977 Page count: 3 (all read) VIRIN: 260508-O-D0360-1088 PURSUE Release: 3

Summary

This is a declassified CIA Directorate of Operations Intelligence Information Report, number FIRK-311/01638-77, concerning the Sary Shagan weapons testing range in the Soviet Union. The report is explicitly marked "THIS IS AN INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE." The source is described as a former Soviet citizen who served at the range; the information was acquired in Germany.

The bulk of the report covers the range's facilities, work areas, security fencing, its regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142), along with the System-75 (SA-2) and System-300/Aldan (ABM-1 GALOSH) warheads and rumored laser-weapons research. The document's significance for this archive lies in its final paragraphs: the source's first-hand account of an unidentified aerial phenomenon — a bright green circular object that expanded into concentric rings — observed over the range one evening in late summer 1973.

This document corresponds to CIA-UAP-D001 in Release 2 of the PURSUE archive, but the Release 3 version contains fewer redactions and is the version made available by the U.S. government as part of the dedicated UAP disclosure effort. A more heavily redacted version of this same report was previously available on the CIA's public CREST database.

Research Article

The document, its history, and its place in the archive

Sary Shagan, in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, was the Soviet Union's principal anti-ballistic-missile (ABM) test range — the proving ground for systems built to intercept incoming strategic warheads. A CIA report on its internal layout and weapons would have been a priority collection target during the Cold War. This report's source is identified only as "a former Soviet citizen who served" at the range; the report was acquired through CIA channels in Germany and carries a distribution date of 22 December 1977, several years after the period of information it covers (November 1972 to November 1973).

The same underlying report appeared in Release 2 of the PURSUE archive (CIA-UAP-D001), in the form available on the CIA's public website, which was more heavily redacted. The Release 3 version provides a fuller view of the document, with source identification fields and additional body text restored.

The report's own summary frames the contents: "This report provides limited information on the Sary Shagan weapons testing range, to include facilities, work areas, security fencing, the regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142). Also included is limited information on the following: System-75 [SA-2] and System-300/Aldan [ABM-1 GALOSH] warheads; rumored laser research; and an unidentified aerial phenomenon."

Technical content: warheads and rumored lasers

Before the UAP account, the report relays technical detail that establishes the source's access and credibility. At "Site 4," warheads were checked for a missile system known as the System-300 and/or Aldan. A field comment identifies this in available reference material as the ABM-1/GALOSH — the Soviet nuclear-tipped ABM interceptor that ringed Moscow. Source did not know if Aldan was another name for the System-300 missile or if they were two similar missiles. The System-300/Aldan warheads, after being checked at Site 4, were taken to Site 35 for launching.

The System-300/Aldan warhead was described as roughly two meters long and 80 to 100 centimeters in diameter, weighing approximately 400 kilograms, containing an unrecalled number of black cassettes (45 by 12 centimeters) housing metal balls ("sharikij"). Warheads for the System-75 (SA-2) missile had approximately 100 grey cassettes, 30 by 7 centimeters, each holding 200 to 300 metal balls no more than 1.5 centimeters in diameter. A field comment notes that the source had no knowledge of nuclear warheads and opined that all systems could be equipped with nuclear warheads — though he stated all work done by his department was "basically experimental (opytnaya)."

The report also notes, "According to hearsay, experiments involving laser weapons were being conducted at an unknown location at the range. Supposedly, the tests involved powerful antennas (no further details)." This places the UAP observation in a specific context: a strategic site where directed-energy and ABM research were simultaneously under way.

The UAP observation

The unidentified-phenomenon account begins at paragraph 14 of the document: "On one evening in late Summer 1973, Source observed an unidentified phenomenon at Site 7. While watching a sport competition between Canada and the USSR on television, he stepped outside for some air and observed an unidentified sharp (bright) green circular object or mass in the sky."

The geometry is recorded: "The object was situated west of the site at an angle of sighting of approximately 70 degrees. The altitude of the object was undeterminable." A field comment adds that although there were no clouds in the sky that evening, the source believed the green mass would have been higher than cloud level, and that he could not estimate the diameter of the object.

The behavior is the report's most striking element: "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. Within minutes the coloring disappeared. There was no sound, such as an explosion, associated with the phenomenon." A closing field comment notes the source "had no opinion as to what this phenomenon was," that "there was no resultant rumors," and that the source could not provide any further details.

Significance

The value of this document is both contextual and historical. It situates a UAP observation directly over a top-tier Soviet strategic-weapons facility during a period of active ABM and rumored directed-energy testing — echoing a pattern across the PURSUE collection in which anomalous aerial activity is reported in close proximity to nuclear and missile infrastructure, on both sides of the Cold War.

The observation itself resists easy explanation. A bright green expanding circle that develops concentric rings and fades silently within minutes could be consistent with a number of phenomena, including high-altitude atmospheric events. The source himself offered no interpretation, and the CIA reporting officer explicitly flagged the report as unevaluated. What the document establishes is that a credentialed insider at Sary Shagan reported an unexplained green aerial phenomenon to the point that it was captured, decades later declassified, and folded into the United States' own UAP disclosure collection — in Release 2 and again, in less redacted form, in Release 3.

Key People

Locations

Incidents

Notable Quotes

"THIS IS AN INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE." — page 1, header

"This report provides limited information on the Sary Shagan weapons testing range, to include facilities, work areas, security fencing, the regional headquarters (V/Ch 03080), and a warhead checkout unit (V/Ch 03142). Also included is limited information on the following: System-75 [SA-2] and System-300/Aldan [ABM-1 GALOSH] warheads; rumored laser research; and an unidentified aerial phenomenon." — page 1, Summary

"On one evening in late Summer 1973, Source observed an unidentified phenomenon at Site 7. While watching a sport competition between Canada and the USSR on television, he stepped outside for some air and observed an unidentified sharp (bright) green circular object or mass in the sky." — pages 2-3

"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. Within minutes the coloring disappeared. There was no sound, such as an explosion, associated with the phenomenon." — page 3

"Source had no opinion as to what this phenomenon was. There was no resultant rumors. Source could not provide any further details." — page 3 (Field Comment)