Russia's disaster-prone military saw its missile early warning system blinded yesterday when fire swept through the main space control centre near Moscow.
Contact was lost with four satellites which watch for ballistic missiles as the blaze destroyed the Serpukhov Comm and Centre, 120 miles southwest of the capital.
Russian technicians were struggling to rebuild communications quickly, as there is no back-up control centre avail able.
"As a result of the fire, we do not have constant contact with the four satellites," the commander of Russian Space Forces, Mr Anatoly Perminov, said.
Firefighters were unable to control the blaze because foam to cope with the electrical fires had to be brought from Moscow. Because of the military's cash shortages there was none nearby.
This fire is a major embarrassment, made worse by its timing - only hours before a delegation from Washington arrived in Moscow to present the case for President Bush's Missile Defence System to Russian government officials and technicians. Moscow is opposed to the MDS but Washington hopes to allay Russian fears.
Military analysts say the blaze is only the latest problem for the cash-strapped armed services, which last year saw the nuclear submarine Kursk blow itself up during missile tests in the Barents Sea.
"There are a great number of catastrophes happening, such as the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk," said a Moscow defence analyst, Mr Pavel Felgenhauer. "Russia's generals complain that they are getting badly trained men, that equipment is badly maintained, and there are increasing numbers of catastophes." These are grim times for Russia's armed services, he added.
A major review is under way with plans to cut personnel from 1.2 million to 800,000. Yet even this reduced number is unmanageable.
Ten years of neglect have left the infrastructure crumbling. One headache for the air force is that it has barely enough uncracked airstrips to allow its fighter jets to make their staged hops across country from Moscow to bases in the Far East.
What spare cash is available is being sucked into the war in Chechnya. This week the Defence Minister, Mr Sergei Ivanov, announced that the planned withdrawal of 75 per cent of the 80,000 troops stationed there will not happen, in the face of a fierce new rebel offensive which has seen the heaviest fighting in nine months.
The decay of Russia's military infrastructure is causing its neighbours anxiety. There are worries of leaks of radioactivity from dozens of ageing submarines and weapons stores, including the sunken Kursk.