Gonets- satellite were the civilian derivate of the military Strela-3 satellite system. The Gonets system was offered to support international health organizations to meet their global communications needs for the transfer of medical data and records to remote sites. Strela-3 was the second generation of Russian strategic store-dump military communications satellite. Development of this generation to replace the first generation Strela-1M and Strela-2M satellites began in 1973.