{"type":"documents","slug":"2026-pursue-release-03-020-cia-uap-011-the-sary-shagan-weapons-testing-range","title":"CIA-UAP-011, The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range","url":"https://disclosdex.com/documents/2026-pursue-release-03-020-cia-uap-011-the-sary-shagan-weapons-testing-range","description":"A December 1973 CIA intelligence information report on the Soviet Sary Shagan range covers its facilities, weapons systems, rumored laser research, and an observed UAP.","date":"1973-12-01T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Report"],"updated":"2026-06-12T00:00:00.000Z","disclosureRating":6,"connectionCount":0,"content":{"markdown":"CIA-UAP-011 is a Central Intelligence Agency Intelligence Information Report (IIR) released in PURSUE Release 03 on June 12, 2026. Designated as report number FIR K-311/01638-77, the document was distributed on 20 December 1973, drawing on source reporting that covers the period November 1972 to November 1973. The originating agency is the CIA, the country of reporting is the USSR, and the incident location is the Sary Shagan weapons testing range in Soviet Kazakhstan. The document reference is 3915084-/3. The report was addressed through Germany and was disseminated to STATE, DIA, NSA, AFSS, and several internal CIA components including OSR, OMI, OSO, and OCR.[^1][^2][^3]\n\n<PDF src=\"https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/061226/release_03/documents/CIA-UAP-011-The_Sary_Shagan_Weapons_Testing_Range.pdf\" />\n\n## Provenance and Classification\n\nCIA-UAP-011 is classified CONFIDENTIAL and carries the standard warning notice regarding sensitive intelligence sources and methods. The cover sheet is explicit that the contents constitute an information report and are \"NOT FINALLY EVALUATED\" intelligence -- that is, raw source reporting forwarded to consumers without an analytical judgment appended by the producing agency.\n\nThe source is identified as a former Soviet citizen whose field number has been redacted. The report was acquired through Germany, which served as the addressing country (ACO). The reporting period spans November 1972 to November 1973, though the distribution date is 20 December 1973. A more heavily redacted version of this report has previously been available on the CIA's public website; the version released through PURSUE is presented with fewer redactions, making it the more complete public iteration of this document.\n\n## Facility Intelligence: Sites, Units, and Security Infrastructure\n\nThe report provides limited but operationally significant information about the layout of the Sary Shagan range. The source identifies the regional headquarters by its Soviet military unit designation, VICh 03080, and identifies the warhead checkout unit separately as VICh 03142. The reporting covers facility layouts, work areas, and details about security fencing infrastructure across the installation.\n\nSite numbers are referenced throughout the document: Site 4 is identified as the location for warhead checkout procedures, while Site 35 is named as the destination for warheads following checkout -- specifically for launching operations. Site 7 is referenced in connection with the unidentified aerial phenomenon account. The granularity of these site designations reflects the source's firsthand familiarity with the range's internal organization.\n\n## Weapons Systems: Technical Specifications\n\n### System-75 (SA-2) Warheads\n\nSite 4 of the Sary Shagan range conducted warhead checkout procedures for the System-75 missile, identified in field analyst annotations as the SA-2. The source reports that warheads for this platform were equipped with approximately 120 grey cassettes, each measuring 30 by 7 centimeters. Each cassette contained between 200 and 300 metal spheres -- referred to in the source's account using the Russian term shariki -- with individual spheres no larger than 1.5 centimeters in diameter. The precise function of these cassettes and their spherical payload is not elaborated in the source account, though the configuration is consistent with a dispersal or fragmentation warhead design. The source was not in a position to specify the functional role of the components.\n\n### System-300 / Aldan (ABM-1 GALOSH) Warheads\n\nThe report details a second, substantially larger weapons system also processed through Site 4: the System-300, alternatively designated in Soviet documentation as Aldan. Field analysts annotated this system as the ABM-1 GALOSH, a Soviet anti-ballistic missile (ABM) platform. The source understood the System-300/Aldan to be designed for raketnyaya oborona (PRO) -- the Soviet term for anti-missile defense.\n\nThe warheads for this system were considerably larger than those of the SA-2. System-300/Aldan warheads measured approximately two meters in length and between 80 and 100 centimeters in diameter. Each assembly weighed approximately 400 kilograms. The warheads contained black cassettes measuring 45 by 12 centimeters -- larger than the grey SA-2 cassettes -- housing an unknown quantity of metal balls whose composition and function the source could not specify.\n\nFollowing checkout at Site 4, System-300/Aldan warheads were transported to Site 35 for launching operations. The source observed that both the System-75 and System-300/Aldan warheads were theoretically capable of accommodating nuclear payloads, but qualified this by stating that work conducted within his department remained experimental (pytnaya) in nature -- suggesting developmental rather than fully operational status at the time of his reporting.\n\n## Rumored Laser Weapons Research\n\nThe source reported, on a hearsay basis, that the Sary Shagan range was conducting laser weapons experiments at an unspecified location within the facility. The details available to the source were minimal. He indicated only that tests allegedly involved \"powerful antennas,\" without being able to elaborate on the technical specifics, location, duration, or scope of the experiments. The source did not claim direct knowledge of or participation in these activities; the laser weapons reporting is explicitly secondhand.\n\nThis element of the report is analytically limited. Sary Shagan was known to Western intelligence as a significant Soviet research facility, and laser weapons research at the range has been documented in other declassified records. The source's account is consistent with the range's known mission profile, but it adds no technically specific or independently verifiable detail.\n\n## The Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Observation\n\nOn one evening in late summer 1973, the source directly observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon while at Site 7 of the Sary Shagan range. The circumstances were unremarkable in origin: the source had stepped outside to get fresh air while a sports competition between Canada and the USSR was being broadcast on television. The sky was clear, with no cloud cover.\n\nThe phenomenon appeared as a sharp, bright green circular object or mass positioned to the west of Site 7. The source estimated the sighting angle at approximately 70 degrees above the horizon. He was not able to determine the absolute altitude of the object, but believed -- based on its apparent brightness and size -- that it was positioned higher than typical cloud altitudes.\n\nThe observation lasted several minutes in total, though the most active phase was brief. Within 10 to 15 seconds of the initial sighting, the green circle appeared to widen. Shortly thereafter, several green concentric circles formed around the central mass. Over the following minutes, the coloration gradually faded and disappeared. The phenomenon was silent throughout -- no sounds, explosions, or other acoustic signatures were observed.\n\nThe source offered no explanation for what he observed. He was unaware of any rumors circulating among personnel at the facility about the event, and no official notice, incident report, or follow-up investigation was documented within his knowledge. He could provide no additional detail beyond his firsthand account.\n\n## What The Record Supports\n\nCIA-UAP-011 establishes that a former Soviet citizen with direct access to the Sary Shagan weapons testing range observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon at Site 7 in late summer 1973 and reported it through CIA collection channels. The source's account is contemporaneous with the reporting period and is embedded in a document that also contains corroborable technical and organizational intelligence about the range -- lending credibility to the document's authenticity, if not to any specific explanation for the observed phenomenon.\n\nThe record does NOT establish the nature or origin of the green circular phenomenon. The source had no explanation, heard no rumors, and received no official notification about the event. The phenomenon's characteristics -- bright green coloration, a sighting angle of approximately 70 degrees, concentric circle formation, extended fading duration, and total silence -- do not obviously correspond to known Soviet or U.S. conventional aerospace systems of the era, but alternative explanations, including natural atmospheric phenomena, cannot be excluded on the basis of this source account alone.\n\nThe laser weapons reporting is secondhand and technically sparse. It is consistent with the range's known mission but does not add independently verifiable detail.\n\nThe report is explicitly marked as unevaluated intelligence. No CIA analytical assessment of the UAP observation is attached or referenced. The phenomenon remains unidentified and unresolved.\n\n## References\n\n[^1]: [Department of War PURSUE page](https://www.war.gov/UFO/#release)\n\n[^2]: [Department of War PURSUE data file (uap-data.csv)](https://www.war.gov/Portals/1/Interactive/2026/UFO/uap-data.csv)\n\n[^3]: [CIA-UAP-011, The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range remote release asset](https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/061226/release_03/documents/CIA-UAP-011-The_Sary_Shagan_Weapons_Testing_Range.pdf)","readingTime":"7 min read"},"relatedRecords":[],"citation":{"canonicalUrl":"https://disclosdex.com/documents/2026-pursue-release-03-020-cia-uap-011-the-sary-shagan-weapons-testing-range","title":"CIA-UAP-011, The Sary Shagan Weapons Testing Range","publisher":"Disclosdex","retrievedFrom":"https://disclosdex.com/api/v1/documents/2026-pursue-release-03-020-cia-uap-011-the-sary-shagan-weapons-testing-range","license":"CC-BY-4.0"}}