Balkhash had a
Daryal-U radar (NATO codename "Pechora"), a
bistatic phased-array early warning radar consisting of two separate large phased-array antennas apart. The transmitter array was and the receiver was in size. The system is a
VHF system operating at a
wavelength of 1.5 to 2 meters (150 to 200 MHz). The claimed range of a Daryal installation is . Originally, at least seven Daryal facilities were planned, however, only the first two facilities completed,
Pechora and
Gabala, were ever operational. Two Daryal-U type were to be built at Balkhash and
Mishelevka,
Irkutsk, neither were completed before the collapse of the
Soviet Union. The Balkhash Daryal started in 1982. Some testing started in 1991 and then stopped in 1994. In 2002 the never operational radar transferred to Kazakhstan who were left with the responsibility to demolish it. The radar was heavily looted and the receiver building ("building no. 2") burnt down in September 2004. It further collapsed whilst being looted in January 2010, killing one. The Daryal contained organic pollutant
polychlorinated biphenyl in its capacitors. The Kazakh government allocated
$7 million to dispose of these and former Kazakh environment minister
Nurlan Iskakov was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to four years in prison relating to this money in 2009. ==References==