The telescope is located at the RRI Aragats Scientific Centre in Orgov, Armenia.

It is hemispherical, and fixed to the ground, with a movable secondary mirror with a diameter of 5 m (16 ft).

[citation needed] Demolitions were set on the slope of Mount Aragats, to create a pit for the dish.

A very uniform surface is needed to receive radio waves in the millimeter and sub-millimeter ranges.

[3] In 1995–2010, the telescope was modernized with new control computers and new feeds, and observations resumed, in collaboration with the Astronomical Society of Russia and the National Technical University of Athens.

[2] In 2012, ROT 54 / 2.6 operations ceased again, when a control arm failed, immobilizing the secondary mirror.

In 2018–2019, a restoration project was prepared, to join the telescope to the European VLBI Network.