My comment:
(a) 伊尔库茨克 Irkutsk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irkutsk
(The city is the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast; The city proper lies on the Angara River; The Irkut River, from which the town takes its name, is a smaller river that joins the Angara directly opposite the city)
(b) 贝加尔湖 Lake Baikal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal
(meaning "nature lake"; world's deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4m)
Local English-language websites assert Baikal, derived from Turkic language, means "rich lake" (where bai means rich, kul means lake).
(c) 加里宁格勒 Kaliningrad
(d) Except this report, all English-language news reports, be it from the West or Russia, focus on the operation of the radar in Kaliningrad. NATO and US have brushed off Russia's unhappiness over the future European missile shield. So by trumpeting the Kaliningrad radar, Russia seems to save some face. That is why the focus is on Kaliningrad. However, VOA is justified to cast its eye on the Irkutsk site.
(e) Russia's new over-the-horizon Voronezh-DM radar extends its reach 6 or 7,000 km (depending on reports today). Various reports from RIA Novosti in 2009 pegged it to be 4,000km. There is no explanation for the discrepancy. Improvement? Exaggeration? I do not know.
(f) If the Russian radar achieves 6,000km nowaday, it goes without saying that US-made radars reached the milestone long ago. In fact, the radar US sold Taiwan at the turn of (this) century covers the entire China, for which Taiwan paid more than $1b and which explained why China was upset over the sale. The Taiwan radar will come online in 2012.
(2) Two pertinet news from Russia.
(a) Lyudmila Alexandrova, Russia to deploy Kaliningrad radar Tuesday. Itar-Tass, Nov 28, 2011 http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c39/283362.html
Quote:
"The full name of the object is 'over-horizon missile attack warning radar Voronezh-DM.'
Yesin said it will control the western direction and has a range of up to six thousand kilometers. “Actually, it covers the whole of Europe, including Great Britain,” he said.
"The new-generation radar was designed by the Moscow Distant Radio Communications Research Institute. A similar one has been operating in Armavir, Krasnodar region since 2009. In 2012 another radar will be launched in Irkutsk region.
Note:
(i) 沃罗涅日 is VOA's transliteration of Voronezh. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronezh
(The city is the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast)
Quote: "The town is named for the river, itself named for an earlier town destroyed by the Mongol invasion, whose name in turn was borrowed from a place name in the Principality of Chernigov, derived from the personal name Voroneg.
(ii) The VOA report--(1) above--states, "即将在伊尔库茨克投入服役的是俄罗斯最新研制的'沃罗涅日'式雷达预警系统。这套系统将取代老式的'达利亚'雷达预警系统。"
达利亚 Daryal
(a) For Daryal-type radar, see Qabala Radar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qabala_Radar
(The Qabala Radar (in many Western sources Qabala is spelled Gabala) is a Daryal-type (known in the West as Pechora after the location Daryal was first tested and installed) bistatic phased-array early warning radar, built by the Soviet Union in the Qabala district of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1985)
(B) Daryal, or spelled Dariel or Darial, is a gorge. See Darial Gorge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darial_Gorge
(a gorge on the border between Russia and Georgia; The name Darial originates from Dar-e Alān meaning Gate of the Alans in Persian)
(b) Chernitsa Polina and Daria Manina, New Radar Station on Combat Duty in Russia’s Kaliningrad. Voice of Russia, Nov 29, 2011. http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/11/29/61203549.html
("the ongoing operation of two more radar stations in Russia’s Krasnodar and Irkutsk Regions")
My comment:
(a) The difference between (2)(a) and (b) is whether the Irkutsk is operational. In any event, construction and installment is almost complete, for Itar-Tass indicates it will run sometime in 2012.
(b) Krasnodar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnodar
(The city is the administrative center of Krasnodar Krai; section 1 History)