Gabala Radar Station (Russian: Габалинская РЛС, romanized: Gabalinskaya RLS; Azerbaijani: Qəbələ RLS) [note 1] was a Daryal-type (NATO Pechora) bistatic passive electronically scanned array early warning radar,[2] built by the Soviet Union in the Qabala district of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1985.

The US Clinton administration offered financial assistance in completing the Mishelevka facility in exchange for amending the ABM treaty to allow US deployment of a national missile defense system.

[15][17] The Yeniseysk (Krasnoyarsk) Daryal-U site caused concern in the west over compliance with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty during its construction in the 1980s.

Following years of negotiations, in September 1989 the Soviets admitted it was a violation of the treaty, construction ceased and the facility was eventually dismantled.

[18] During the 33rd G8 summit in Germany on June 7–8, 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin made an offer to deploy elements of an American anti-ballistic missile system in Azerbaijan, instead of Poland (see US missile defense complex in Poland) and the Czech Republic, using the Gabala Radar Station jointly with Russia.

The plan was met with sharp criticism by Russia which threatened to target Europe with its own ballistic missiles despite US claims that the system was not designed to defend against a large scale Russian attack.

Data from Gabala, together with Armavir, were offered to the United States to show they provide good coverage of any potential launches from Iran.

[21] Surveys undertaken by the Radiation Problems Institute of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources did not find abnormal values but could not verify whether or not the station was operational at the time that measurements were taken.

[citation needed] The newspaper Baku Zerkalo reports that in 1984, when the power was 300 MW, one hectare of land was completely burnt out.