WKO: return to common sense
The aerospace defense of the state must be created on the basis of the requirements of military science, historical traditions, experience of local wars and military conflicts
After the change of leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, almost a year and a half has passed. All this time, the discussion about the future of the Aerospace Defense Forces (WKO) did not stop, including at meetings of the working group of the General Staff to develop proposals for further improving the structure of this type of troops. Experts offered the leadership different ways of forming the aerospace defense, many relying on the proposals of some scientists, which to some extent disoriented the leadership of the Armed Forces. Veterans of the Air Defense Forces actively participated in the events. From our point of view, it is impossible to explain directly opposite views with a scientific approach.
EKR troops were created on December 1 2011 of the year, but the expected unification of forces and means to fight the aerospace enemy throughout the country has not happened since. The Ministry of Defense formulates the tasks of the troops, including the following: “The defeat of the ballistic missile warheads of a potential enemy, attacking important state objects, protecting command and control points (PU) of the highest levels of state and military control, groups of troops (forces), major industrial and economic centers and other objects from the attacks of the aerospace attack (SVKN) of the enemy within the zone of destruction; monitoring space objects and identifying threats to Russia in space and from space, and, if necessary, parrying such threats ”(cited from the website of the military department).
It should be noted that the task of observing and countering threats from space is basically declarative in nature. The defeat of ballistic missiles is implemented by missile defense with a relatively small probability within the space defined by the agreement with the United States. Protection of control points and critical facilities is carried out specifically - within the affected areas. Apparently, this refers to anti-aircraft missile systems and systems. But formations armed with air defense missile systems / air defense systems are not included in the composition of the aerospace defense forces. This means that interspecies contradictions are again laid in the organization of management. In addition, the role of fighter is not indicated in the list of tasks. aviationwhich, in the face of a massive reduction in anti-aircraft missile units and formations, is obliged to take part in repelling the strike of a potential aerospace attack. Now he focuses on unmanned aerial vehicles, primarily cruise missiles and attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and in the near future they will become hypersonic. And we have such a powerful means of combating cruise missiles as the MiG-31 fighter-interceptor that is outside the command of the East Kazakhstan region.
Also not included in the list of tasks timely detection, maintenance of SVKN and the issuance of target designation to them firing means. Although we should now raise the question of creating a single information space about an aerospace enemy. Thus, the three-unified task, even in a staged form, cannot be solved. It is not spelled out in the plans of the Ministry of Defense.
In essence, the EKR Troops, the backbone of their administrative structures, were created on the basis of the Space Forces (KV) and this complicates the execution of the assigned tasks. Not all officials (people from this kind of troops) are able to lead the reflection of an aerospace enemy with due efficiency. In general, the current situation looks pessimistic - the EKR Troops are so far ineffective, and the Air Force command of the 15-year-old practical activity has shown its inconsistency in the organization of the country's air defense.
Unfortunately, in scientific circles there are few useful recipes for giving these branches of troops the necessary combat capability. For example, there is such a point of view: if all forms of the Armed Forces are fighting against an aerospace enemy, then it is necessary to include strike aviation, Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), the Strategic Missile Forces, rocket troops and artillery (RV and A), even military transport aviation (VTA). For a long time, the idea of creating the Aerospace Forces has been persistently put forward by General Vladimir Barvinenko, Doctor of Military Sciences, including on the pages of the weekly MIC. His very controversial ideas would have looked good in the course of scientific discussions of a narrow circle of specialists, but the constant publication of Vladimir Barvinenko's materials in the media would somewhat disorient the top management.
It is important to put everything on the shelves and then consider the possible options for building and forms of action. Professor Barvinenko is worried about the possible "separation of the actions of the formations of the East Kazakhstan forces from the actions of strike aircraft, missile forces and artillery, forces fleet”, If their actions will be carried out within the framework of not one general operation (as it will be called, remains to be clarified), but several. In fact, there will be no isolation, everyone should do his own thing. It is not necessary to include the actions of the Ground Forces (SV), the forces of the Navy, Strategic Rocket Forces, RV and A.
When mentioning possible difficulties in managing the proposed new type of aircraft, the VKS General writes: “This problem is solved by the necessary composition of the main command of the aircraft type.” But he surely knows that the high command offices are now considerably weakened, their numbers are not enough to solve many of the priorities even in peacetime. There is no guarantee that only one main board (proposed by the Aerospace Forces) will be staffed against the others. This trouble is typical of peacetime, and during the war it will be even worse.
It is unlikely that anyone of the combined-arms commanders would like Barvinenko’s idea of strengthening the defense of strategic nuclear forces from the sudden disarming attack of the enemy’s SVKN at the expense of military air defense, taking into account that the ground forces are not the primary strike targets. "With other expected options for the development of the military-political situation of the formation of military air defense ... can quickly move to the defense groups of troops," - he said. In fact, it is proposed to leave the NE without cover. If reconnaissance does not reveal the preparation of the enemy for war, the blow of the SVKN will almost certainly be sudden. However, it is difficult to imagine that a hypothetical war will begin just like that, without exacerbating the situation, manifesting any signs of preparation for it. So if the period to be threatened is still there, then all the above arguments are not entirely correct.
When conducting polemics, Vladimir Vasilievich sometimes refers to minor details of the articles or speeches of his opponents. So he did, for example, with the article by Colonel-General Boris Cheltsov “What will be the new look of EKR” in the 49 number for 2013 year “Military Industrial Complex”, taking the thesis about the remaining anti-aircraft missile regiments in 34. Barvinenko does not have the critics of the substantive part of Cheltsov's article, that is, the main arguments are simply ignored. Although Cheltsov is not only a prominent Russian scientist in the issues of aerospace defense, the head of the aerospace defense department of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation, but more importantly, he is an experienced practitioner and military leader, formerly head of the Air Force General Staff, originally from the Air Defense Forces.
Algorithm of construction
In the 48 issue of the weekly military-industrial complex for 2013, Fedor Sergeev’s article “EKR: again at a fork” tries to substantiate the need to create a new type (kind) of the Armed Forces - the Air Force. He writes: “Along with the associations of the Air Force, it is possible to include the forces and facilities of the East Kazakhstan region and the Strategic Missile Forces. It is assumed that the leadership of the GVH will carry out not the Main (operational) command, but the Main (administrative) management of the development of weapons, support and training of combat crews. ”
I must say that the desire to divide operational and administrative management prevails with General Barvinenko. This proposal is very dubious. By itself, the process of control of the Armed Forces of the East Kazakhstan region (PVO) in daily activities and in repelling the impact of the SVKN requires maximum coherence and organization of interaction between the structures that form or will form the basis of the aerospace defense. Artificially making additional difficulties in the process is not worth it. In my opinion, it is advisable to combine operational and administrative control of the East Kazakhstani Armed Forces.
The operational functions of the command of the Air Force, Air Defense Forces and the Strategic Missile Forces Sergeev proposes to transfer to a higher level by analogy with the High Command in strategic areas (TVD), that is, to the newly created Main Aerospace Command. He also proves the need for the creation of a “Main Directorate for the use of military and special forces in various forms of strategic actions to combat the aerospace enemy. This body must be in the Main Operations Directorate (GOU) of the Supreme Command. Or, at first, the strategic staff command (operational control) of the use of the Armed Forces in various forms of strategic actions to combat the aerospace enemy in the public educational institution of the General Staff. ”
I find it difficult to comment on the creation of the cupola in the chapter and explain what the GCU VGK is. I'd love to see the structure governing AUC. By the word “manage” I understand the possibility of displaying and analyzing information about the enemy's SVKN, setting the task to active tools of the aerospace defense and evaluating the results of their actions. From the article it is not clear from which control point such leadership of the East-Kazakhstan oblast forces will be carried out. Finally, the author notes: “Russia is still lagging behind the world process and is in a state of confusion and vacillation. The situation can be rectified if the reform of the military organization of the Russian Federation is carried out not by trial and error, but on the basis of the recommendations of professionals, taking into account practical experience, historical analysis and conclusions of military science regarding the organization and conduct of confrontation with promising means of WCS.
I absolutely agree with this conclusion. But the proposals of Fyodor Sergeev themselves do not contain this very historical analysis and practical experience. On the contrary, many controversial proposals, similar to those mentioned above, just mean silencing the experience of the Air Defense Forces, ignoring the accumulated practice of construction, operational and strategic training in peacetime and the experience gained in local wars and military conflicts. In addition, there is some distortion of the conceptual apparatus on the problems of aerospace defense.
Taking into account traditions and experience, we insist on such an algorithm of actions - from air defense through air defense to aerospace. A presidential decree in July 1993, “On the Organization of Air Defense in the Russian Federation,” defined a priority area - the creation of aerospace defense and the reorganization of the Air Defense Forces in the East Kazakhstani Army.
In our country, taking into account the experience of the Great Patriotic War, local wars, operational-strategic exercises and the rapid development of air (later aerospace) attacks, a powerful air defense system (WKO) was created that has no analogues in the world. The troops became an important factor in deterring a nuclear-missile and large-scale war, ensuring the maintenance of military-strategic parity with the United States, being an important addition to the Strategic Missile Forces. Suddenly, in July 1997, President Boris Yeltsin, by his decree “On priority measures to reform the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and improve their structure,” effectively destroyed the country's air defense system, and in such a hurry that the previous 1993 decree was not canceled.
The RKO troops were urgently transferred to the Strategic Missile Forces, but as early as January 2001 was followed by another decree on the withdrawal of the RKO and the Military Space Forces from the Strategic Missile Forces and the creation of a branch of the central subordinate troops - Space Forces (KV). Subsequently, the Strategic Missile Forces could not remain a type of the RF Armed Forces. This is a consequence of the replacement of the interests of the country's defense with narrow departmental ones. The Air Defense Forces and the Air Force were converted to the Armed Forces - Air Force.
Once again about the conceptual apparatus
Combat operations of forces and means must be viewed not according to physical, but according to the environments of warfare, that is, according to the task being carried out. The enemy of the Air Defense Forces (EKR) is in aerospace. It is from this point of reference that our opponents begin to misunderstand the conceptual apparatus on the problems of aerospace defense. And the enemy of the Air Force as an offensive type of the Armed Forces can be on the ground, in the water, in the air. Protecting the country's rear is a system of aerospace defense, carried out according to a single plan and design, subordinated to its vertical, and not to the heads of the objects to be defended. The Air Defense Forces (ASD) is a single all-level independent structure. Object air defense is not a form of combat support, but the main means in the fight against the aerospace enemy.
The merging of airspace and space into a single sphere of warfare determines the close integration of its air and space means of conducting - both offensive and defensive. Thus, the aerospace sphere of warfare becomes a theater of military operations and has the right to exist along with land and sea theaters.
Aerospace (VC) TVD is the space within which space and aerodynamic apparatuses are placed as objects of protection or destruction in near-earth orbits. Its entire volume is now constantly scanned for reconnaissance purposes by radar, teleoptical, infrared, laser or other technical devices located on the ground or spacecraft. Within certain limits, it is blocked by interception zones of aerospace strike weapons before launching cruise missiles (CR) - by intercept missile systems, as well as by anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-missile, anti-space firing complexes, and systems belonging to combat forces. intended for the aerospace defense of the state.
Already today, the likely enemy has the means and forces to deliver a strike from the airspace, space and through space to the entire depth of the country. We do not have a unified air defense system (ASD) on a national scale, and the air defense systems on the territory of the country give way to the air defense of troops in the front line. A front without rear is doomed to failure.
Aerospace defense is not only a type of military action, but also an essential component of the state’s military security. Its organization is not a function of any type of Armed Forces or even of the Ministry of Defense, but a complex combat defensive structure, which is the subject of daily and unrelenting care of the country's leadership.
Some of our opponents understand everything that moves and shoots air and space, radiates electromagnetic energy, detects something, puts interference and is used in the fight against SVKN. Therefore, the disruption of the aeronautical operation of the likely enemy is not imposed on the integral unified system of the aerospace defense, but on the troops and forces, a set of formations of types (clans) of the armed forces subordinated to different controls, implementing their forms of action on the line of direct subordination and not having a single strategic body management. It is necessary to realize that the aerospace defense system, distributed by types (maternity) of the Armed Forces, is in fact not a system, but simply a set of forces and means not connected by a single combat task or by personal responsibility for its implementation.
VK TVD sooner or later will find a reasonable place in the relevant sections of military science, it requires serious reflection. In particular, in such an important area as interdependence in the theater of war and the optimal interaction within its borders of all three theater operations - land, sea and aerospace. We will consider only some particular aspects of this important, requiring a large and deep scientific study of the issue.
First of all, it should be noted: the combat zone of aerodynamic means (aircraft, UAVs, many types of combat vehicles) is a very narrow band, limited by the content of combat missions inherent in air strikes. Fighting tactical and carrier-based aircraft are conducted in an even more limited space. And all this within the limits of one, maximum two adjacent operational directions of land theater of operations. In this band, it is necessary to organize a stable interaction of ground and aerospace theaters, ensure the safety of flights of its aircraft and prevent airborne strikes on the rear facilities of the country throughout the VDM at altitude to orbital inclusive.
The conclusion suggests one thing - for such interaction they should be responsible, organize its armies of the East Kazakhstan region. The solution of these tasks is completely unusual for all categories of leaders of the Air Force, Strategic Missile Forces and others. Everyone should do their own thing professionally, fulfilling their duties as intended. From this it is necessary to proceed when creating the system of aerospace defense of Russia. But the reform of the Air Defense Forces (WKO) that is being carried out today increasingly precludes the possibility of an adequate forceful countering of the enemy’s aerospace operations.
Troops of constant alert
Despite a number of negative points noted above, military science should be involved in solving the issue. In several issues of the weekly "Military Industrial Complex", exhaustive recommendations were given by major practical scientists on the reconstruction, construction and development of aerospace defense in the new conditions on a new operational-strategic, technological and technical, scientific and production basis. This is the article "Zigzags in the implementation of the concept of the East Kazakhstan Region" by Doctor of Military Sciences Kirill Makarov and Doctor of Technical Sciences Sergey Yagolnikov. You can also recall the work of Professor Yuri Krinitsky "Parry a quick global strike" with a reasonable response to Vladimir Barvinenko. Krinitsky rightly asserts: “Aerospace theater of war is not just another military-geographical category, but a completely different ideology of the organization of warfare. VCD exists independently of the dispute around it. For doubters, there is a reality in the form of a lightning-fast global strike. His script is designed for six hours. " Or, for example, Boris Cheltsov, the doctor of military sciences mentioned above. In his article published at the end of last year in the "MIC" article "What will be the new look of EKR" there are concrete, verified by science, justifications for the creation of a new type of armed forces - the EKO Army. The listed colleagues are not ordinary scientists, but practitioners who have great achievements in the development of the Air Defense Forces, in the formation of the Concept of aerospace defense, in the creation of aerospace defense at the present stage.
The positions of the Presidium of the Union of Veterans of the Air Defense Forces, the Department of Aerospace Defense of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation, the Independent Expert Council on Problems of EKR, the Military Academy of EKR named after Marshal G.K. Zhukov, the Scientific-Research Center (SIC) of the Air Defense of 4-th Central Scientific Research Institute (CRI) of the Ministry of Defense are in solidarity with them and are based on the above materials. Thus, it is possible to draw a number of conclusions dictated to us by the likely aerospace adversary.
The first one - the East Kazakhstan region occupies one of the central places in the general defense system of the country, it has important military-strategic and military-political importance. The second is the most important factor in ensuring strategic stability, deterring and preventing aggression, the guarantor of the timely provision of the Supreme Main Command information on the aerospace situation for decision-making on retaliatory actions. The third is the main system capable of fighting against the enemy's SVKN operating from airspace, space according to a single plan and plan, under a single command and with sole responsibility. Fourth - the state should build an independent aerospace defense for reliable protection of air borders, protection of strategic facilities from SVKN. With the continuous improvement and development of the forces and means of the enemy's aerospace attack, the volume and complexity of the tasks of aerospace defense increase. Its system must be created on a territorial basis with centralized management throughout the country. Fifth, the aerospace defense system must be combat-ready in peacetime, capable, without any adjustment, to repel sudden strikes. The commander-in-chief of the troops is required to transfer all the functions of the administrative and operational control of the troops.
The sixth conclusion - in the structure of the aerospace defense should be united under the unified command of the rocket and space defense troops, anti-aircraft missile, radio, air defense aircraft, which is based primarily on MiG-31 and Su-27 interceptors. In no case should not forget about the parts of intelligence and electronic warfare. The recent centralization of reconnaissance forces and assets is considered unnecessary and erroneous, it is necessary to strengthen the reconnaissance of the high command authorities, overcoming the excessive centralization.
The proposed structure of the Armed Forces of the East Kazakhstan region is historically justified, it was she who is confirmed by the practice of construction. In the specialties named in the sixth paragraph, operational-tactical training of specialists should be organized at the Military Academy of the East Kazakhstan region named after Marshal G. K. Zhukov in Tver, which we still cannot achieve. I would like to hope that the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces in these difficult conditions will be able to make the only right decision based on the requirements of military science, historical traditions, experience of local wars and military conflicts, operational and strategic training, and the practice of military construction in Russia.
After the change of leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, almost a year and a half has passed. All this time, the discussion about the future of the Aerospace Defense Forces (WKO) did not stop, including at meetings of the working group of the General Staff to develop proposals for further improving the structure of this type of troops. Experts offered the leadership different ways of forming the aerospace defense, many relying on the proposals of some scientists, which to some extent disoriented the leadership of the Armed Forces. Veterans of the Air Defense Forces actively participated in the events. From our point of view, it is impossible to explain directly opposite views with a scientific approach.
EKR troops were created on December 1 2011 of the year, but the expected unification of forces and means to fight the aerospace enemy throughout the country has not happened since. The Ministry of Defense formulates the tasks of the troops, including the following: “The defeat of the ballistic missile warheads of a potential enemy, attacking important state objects, protecting command and control points (PU) of the highest levels of state and military control, groups of troops (forces), major industrial and economic centers and other objects from the attacks of the aerospace attack (SVKN) of the enemy within the zone of destruction; monitoring space objects and identifying threats to Russia in space and from space, and, if necessary, parrying such threats ”(cited from the website of the military department).
It should be noted that the task of observing and countering threats from space is basically declarative in nature. The defeat of ballistic missiles is implemented by missile defense with a relatively small probability within the space defined by the agreement with the United States. Protection of control points and critical facilities is carried out specifically - within the affected areas. Apparently, this refers to anti-aircraft missile systems and systems. But formations armed with air defense missile systems / air defense systems are not included in the composition of the aerospace defense forces. This means that interspecies contradictions are again laid in the organization of management. In addition, the role of fighter is not indicated in the list of tasks. aviationwhich, in the face of a massive reduction in anti-aircraft missile units and formations, is obliged to take part in repelling the strike of a potential aerospace attack. Now he focuses on unmanned aerial vehicles, primarily cruise missiles and attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and in the near future they will become hypersonic. And we have such a powerful means of combating cruise missiles as the MiG-31 fighter-interceptor that is outside the command of the East Kazakhstan region.
Also not included in the list of tasks timely detection, maintenance of SVKN and the issuance of target designation to them firing means. Although we should now raise the question of creating a single information space about an aerospace enemy. Thus, the three-unified task, even in a staged form, cannot be solved. It is not spelled out in the plans of the Ministry of Defense.
In essence, the EKR Troops, the backbone of their administrative structures, were created on the basis of the Space Forces (KV) and this complicates the execution of the assigned tasks. Not all officials (people from this kind of troops) are able to lead the reflection of an aerospace enemy with due efficiency. In general, the current situation looks pessimistic - the EKR Troops are so far ineffective, and the Air Force command of the 15-year-old practical activity has shown its inconsistency in the organization of the country's air defense.
Unfortunately, in scientific circles there are few useful recipes for giving these branches of troops the necessary combat capability. For example, there is such a point of view: if all forms of the Armed Forces are fighting against an aerospace enemy, then it is necessary to include strike aviation, Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), the Strategic Missile Forces, rocket troops and artillery (RV and A), even military transport aviation (VTA). For a long time, the idea of creating the Aerospace Forces has been persistently put forward by General Vladimir Barvinenko, Doctor of Military Sciences, including on the pages of the weekly MIC. His very controversial ideas would have looked good in the course of scientific discussions of a narrow circle of specialists, but the constant publication of Vladimir Barvinenko's materials in the media would somewhat disorient the top management.
It is important to put everything on the shelves and then consider the possible options for building and forms of action. Professor Barvinenko is worried about the possible "separation of the actions of the formations of the East Kazakhstan forces from the actions of strike aircraft, missile forces and artillery, forces fleet”, If their actions will be carried out within the framework of not one general operation (as it will be called, remains to be clarified), but several. In fact, there will be no isolation, everyone should do his own thing. It is not necessary to include the actions of the Ground Forces (SV), the forces of the Navy, Strategic Rocket Forces, RV and A.
When mentioning possible difficulties in managing the proposed new type of aircraft, the VKS General writes: “This problem is solved by the necessary composition of the main command of the aircraft type.” But he surely knows that the high command offices are now considerably weakened, their numbers are not enough to solve many of the priorities even in peacetime. There is no guarantee that only one main board (proposed by the Aerospace Forces) will be staffed against the others. This trouble is typical of peacetime, and during the war it will be even worse.
It is unlikely that anyone of the combined-arms commanders would like Barvinenko’s idea of strengthening the defense of strategic nuclear forces from the sudden disarming attack of the enemy’s SVKN at the expense of military air defense, taking into account that the ground forces are not the primary strike targets. "With other expected options for the development of the military-political situation of the formation of military air defense ... can quickly move to the defense groups of troops," - he said. In fact, it is proposed to leave the NE without cover. If reconnaissance does not reveal the preparation of the enemy for war, the blow of the SVKN will almost certainly be sudden. However, it is difficult to imagine that a hypothetical war will begin just like that, without exacerbating the situation, manifesting any signs of preparation for it. So if the period to be threatened is still there, then all the above arguments are not entirely correct.
When conducting polemics, Vladimir Vasilievich sometimes refers to minor details of the articles or speeches of his opponents. So he did, for example, with the article by Colonel-General Boris Cheltsov “What will be the new look of EKR” in the 49 number for 2013 year “Military Industrial Complex”, taking the thesis about the remaining anti-aircraft missile regiments in 34. Barvinenko does not have the critics of the substantive part of Cheltsov's article, that is, the main arguments are simply ignored. Although Cheltsov is not only a prominent Russian scientist in the issues of aerospace defense, the head of the aerospace defense department of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation, but more importantly, he is an experienced practitioner and military leader, formerly head of the Air Force General Staff, originally from the Air Defense Forces.
Algorithm of construction
In the 48 issue of the weekly military-industrial complex for 2013, Fedor Sergeev’s article “EKR: again at a fork” tries to substantiate the need to create a new type (kind) of the Armed Forces - the Air Force. He writes: “Along with the associations of the Air Force, it is possible to include the forces and facilities of the East Kazakhstan region and the Strategic Missile Forces. It is assumed that the leadership of the GVH will carry out not the Main (operational) command, but the Main (administrative) management of the development of weapons, support and training of combat crews. ”
I must say that the desire to divide operational and administrative management prevails with General Barvinenko. This proposal is very dubious. By itself, the process of control of the Armed Forces of the East Kazakhstan region (PVO) in daily activities and in repelling the impact of the SVKN requires maximum coherence and organization of interaction between the structures that form or will form the basis of the aerospace defense. Artificially making additional difficulties in the process is not worth it. In my opinion, it is advisable to combine operational and administrative control of the East Kazakhstani Armed Forces.
The operational functions of the command of the Air Force, Air Defense Forces and the Strategic Missile Forces Sergeev proposes to transfer to a higher level by analogy with the High Command in strategic areas (TVD), that is, to the newly created Main Aerospace Command. He also proves the need for the creation of a “Main Directorate for the use of military and special forces in various forms of strategic actions to combat the aerospace enemy. This body must be in the Main Operations Directorate (GOU) of the Supreme Command. Or, at first, the strategic staff command (operational control) of the use of the Armed Forces in various forms of strategic actions to combat the aerospace enemy in the public educational institution of the General Staff. ”
I find it difficult to comment on the creation of the cupola in the chapter and explain what the GCU VGK is. I'd love to see the structure governing AUC. By the word “manage” I understand the possibility of displaying and analyzing information about the enemy's SVKN, setting the task to active tools of the aerospace defense and evaluating the results of their actions. From the article it is not clear from which control point such leadership of the East-Kazakhstan oblast forces will be carried out. Finally, the author notes: “Russia is still lagging behind the world process and is in a state of confusion and vacillation. The situation can be rectified if the reform of the military organization of the Russian Federation is carried out not by trial and error, but on the basis of the recommendations of professionals, taking into account practical experience, historical analysis and conclusions of military science regarding the organization and conduct of confrontation with promising means of WCS.
I absolutely agree with this conclusion. But the proposals of Fyodor Sergeev themselves do not contain this very historical analysis and practical experience. On the contrary, many controversial proposals, similar to those mentioned above, just mean silencing the experience of the Air Defense Forces, ignoring the accumulated practice of construction, operational and strategic training in peacetime and the experience gained in local wars and military conflicts. In addition, there is some distortion of the conceptual apparatus on the problems of aerospace defense.
Taking into account traditions and experience, we insist on such an algorithm of actions - from air defense through air defense to aerospace. A presidential decree in July 1993, “On the Organization of Air Defense in the Russian Federation,” defined a priority area - the creation of aerospace defense and the reorganization of the Air Defense Forces in the East Kazakhstani Army.
In our country, taking into account the experience of the Great Patriotic War, local wars, operational-strategic exercises and the rapid development of air (later aerospace) attacks, a powerful air defense system (WKO) was created that has no analogues in the world. The troops became an important factor in deterring a nuclear-missile and large-scale war, ensuring the maintenance of military-strategic parity with the United States, being an important addition to the Strategic Missile Forces. Suddenly, in July 1997, President Boris Yeltsin, by his decree “On priority measures to reform the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and improve their structure,” effectively destroyed the country's air defense system, and in such a hurry that the previous 1993 decree was not canceled.
The RKO troops were urgently transferred to the Strategic Missile Forces, but as early as January 2001 was followed by another decree on the withdrawal of the RKO and the Military Space Forces from the Strategic Missile Forces and the creation of a branch of the central subordinate troops - Space Forces (KV). Subsequently, the Strategic Missile Forces could not remain a type of the RF Armed Forces. This is a consequence of the replacement of the interests of the country's defense with narrow departmental ones. The Air Defense Forces and the Air Force were converted to the Armed Forces - Air Force.
Once again about the conceptual apparatus
Combat operations of forces and means must be viewed not according to physical, but according to the environments of warfare, that is, according to the task being carried out. The enemy of the Air Defense Forces (EKR) is in aerospace. It is from this point of reference that our opponents begin to misunderstand the conceptual apparatus on the problems of aerospace defense. And the enemy of the Air Force as an offensive type of the Armed Forces can be on the ground, in the water, in the air. Protecting the country's rear is a system of aerospace defense, carried out according to a single plan and design, subordinated to its vertical, and not to the heads of the objects to be defended. The Air Defense Forces (ASD) is a single all-level independent structure. Object air defense is not a form of combat support, but the main means in the fight against the aerospace enemy.
The merging of airspace and space into a single sphere of warfare determines the close integration of its air and space means of conducting - both offensive and defensive. Thus, the aerospace sphere of warfare becomes a theater of military operations and has the right to exist along with land and sea theaters.
Aerospace (VC) TVD is the space within which space and aerodynamic apparatuses are placed as objects of protection or destruction in near-earth orbits. Its entire volume is now constantly scanned for reconnaissance purposes by radar, teleoptical, infrared, laser or other technical devices located on the ground or spacecraft. Within certain limits, it is blocked by interception zones of aerospace strike weapons before launching cruise missiles (CR) - by intercept missile systems, as well as by anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-missile, anti-space firing complexes, and systems belonging to combat forces. intended for the aerospace defense of the state.
Already today, the likely enemy has the means and forces to deliver a strike from the airspace, space and through space to the entire depth of the country. We do not have a unified air defense system (ASD) on a national scale, and the air defense systems on the territory of the country give way to the air defense of troops in the front line. A front without rear is doomed to failure.
Aerospace defense is not only a type of military action, but also an essential component of the state’s military security. Its organization is not a function of any type of Armed Forces or even of the Ministry of Defense, but a complex combat defensive structure, which is the subject of daily and unrelenting care of the country's leadership.
Some of our opponents understand everything that moves and shoots air and space, radiates electromagnetic energy, detects something, puts interference and is used in the fight against SVKN. Therefore, the disruption of the aeronautical operation of the likely enemy is not imposed on the integral unified system of the aerospace defense, but on the troops and forces, a set of formations of types (clans) of the armed forces subordinated to different controls, implementing their forms of action on the line of direct subordination and not having a single strategic body management. It is necessary to realize that the aerospace defense system, distributed by types (maternity) of the Armed Forces, is in fact not a system, but simply a set of forces and means not connected by a single combat task or by personal responsibility for its implementation.
VK TVD sooner or later will find a reasonable place in the relevant sections of military science, it requires serious reflection. In particular, in such an important area as interdependence in the theater of war and the optimal interaction within its borders of all three theater operations - land, sea and aerospace. We will consider only some particular aspects of this important, requiring a large and deep scientific study of the issue.
First of all, it should be noted: the combat zone of aerodynamic means (aircraft, UAVs, many types of combat vehicles) is a very narrow band, limited by the content of combat missions inherent in air strikes. Fighting tactical and carrier-based aircraft are conducted in an even more limited space. And all this within the limits of one, maximum two adjacent operational directions of land theater of operations. In this band, it is necessary to organize a stable interaction of ground and aerospace theaters, ensure the safety of flights of its aircraft and prevent airborne strikes on the rear facilities of the country throughout the VDM at altitude to orbital inclusive.
The conclusion suggests one thing - for such interaction they should be responsible, organize its armies of the East Kazakhstan region. The solution of these tasks is completely unusual for all categories of leaders of the Air Force, Strategic Missile Forces and others. Everyone should do their own thing professionally, fulfilling their duties as intended. From this it is necessary to proceed when creating the system of aerospace defense of Russia. But the reform of the Air Defense Forces (WKO) that is being carried out today increasingly precludes the possibility of an adequate forceful countering of the enemy’s aerospace operations.
Troops of constant alert
Despite a number of negative points noted above, military science should be involved in solving the issue. In several issues of the weekly "Military Industrial Complex", exhaustive recommendations were given by major practical scientists on the reconstruction, construction and development of aerospace defense in the new conditions on a new operational-strategic, technological and technical, scientific and production basis. This is the article "Zigzags in the implementation of the concept of the East Kazakhstan Region" by Doctor of Military Sciences Kirill Makarov and Doctor of Technical Sciences Sergey Yagolnikov. You can also recall the work of Professor Yuri Krinitsky "Parry a quick global strike" with a reasonable response to Vladimir Barvinenko. Krinitsky rightly asserts: “Aerospace theater of war is not just another military-geographical category, but a completely different ideology of the organization of warfare. VCD exists independently of the dispute around it. For doubters, there is a reality in the form of a lightning-fast global strike. His script is designed for six hours. " Or, for example, Boris Cheltsov, the doctor of military sciences mentioned above. In his article published at the end of last year in the "MIC" article "What will be the new look of EKR" there are concrete, verified by science, justifications for the creation of a new type of armed forces - the EKO Army. The listed colleagues are not ordinary scientists, but practitioners who have great achievements in the development of the Air Defense Forces, in the formation of the Concept of aerospace defense, in the creation of aerospace defense at the present stage.
The positions of the Presidium of the Union of Veterans of the Air Defense Forces, the Department of Aerospace Defense of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation, the Independent Expert Council on Problems of EKR, the Military Academy of EKR named after Marshal G.K. Zhukov, the Scientific-Research Center (SIC) of the Air Defense of 4-th Central Scientific Research Institute (CRI) of the Ministry of Defense are in solidarity with them and are based on the above materials. Thus, it is possible to draw a number of conclusions dictated to us by the likely aerospace adversary.
The first one - the East Kazakhstan region occupies one of the central places in the general defense system of the country, it has important military-strategic and military-political importance. The second is the most important factor in ensuring strategic stability, deterring and preventing aggression, the guarantor of the timely provision of the Supreme Main Command information on the aerospace situation for decision-making on retaliatory actions. The third is the main system capable of fighting against the enemy's SVKN operating from airspace, space according to a single plan and plan, under a single command and with sole responsibility. Fourth - the state should build an independent aerospace defense for reliable protection of air borders, protection of strategic facilities from SVKN. With the continuous improvement and development of the forces and means of the enemy's aerospace attack, the volume and complexity of the tasks of aerospace defense increase. Its system must be created on a territorial basis with centralized management throughout the country. Fifth, the aerospace defense system must be combat-ready in peacetime, capable, without any adjustment, to repel sudden strikes. The commander-in-chief of the troops is required to transfer all the functions of the administrative and operational control of the troops.
The sixth conclusion - in the structure of the aerospace defense should be united under the unified command of the rocket and space defense troops, anti-aircraft missile, radio, air defense aircraft, which is based primarily on MiG-31 and Su-27 interceptors. In no case should not forget about the parts of intelligence and electronic warfare. The recent centralization of reconnaissance forces and assets is considered unnecessary and erroneous, it is necessary to strengthen the reconnaissance of the high command authorities, overcoming the excessive centralization.
The proposed structure of the Armed Forces of the East Kazakhstan region is historically justified, it was she who is confirmed by the practice of construction. In the specialties named in the sixth paragraph, operational-tactical training of specialists should be organized at the Military Academy of the East Kazakhstan region named after Marshal G. K. Zhukov in Tver, which we still cannot achieve. I would like to hope that the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces in these difficult conditions will be able to make the only right decision based on the requirements of military science, historical traditions, experience of local wars and military conflicts, operational and strategic training, and the practice of military construction in Russia.
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