Sky shield for CIS
In modern conditions of warfare, non-contact air strikes are the most effective way to defeat enemy personnel and equipment, which was perfectly demonstrated during the military operations conducted by the United States and NATO in Afghanistan, Iraq and continuing in Libya. To repel such attacks, air defense systems are in demand as never before. However, since they are very expensive and in the post-Soviet republics these funds are mostly still Soviet-made, the obvious dependence of the CIS states on Russia is obvious. The Russian Federation is the only state in the entire post-Soviet space in which work is being carried out to modernize the entire spectrum aviation and anti-aircraft missile systems of air defense, manufactured in the USSR. Also, it is Moscow that develops and mass-produces new systems.
The active work of the Russian military engineers in the development of air defense systems was confirmed by the exercises at the Ashuluk training ground, the active phase of the exercises of the armed forces of the countries of the Combined Commonwealth Air Defense System of the CIS “Combat Commonwealth-2011” ended just yesterday. Despite the fact that not all countries that are part of this structure take part in the maneuvers, operational actions of combat crews (from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will be constantly monitored by representatives of the armed forces of all 11 states of the Commonwealth of Independent States .
Representatives from Moldova and Azerbaijan, who are not members of the United Air Defense System of the CIS, also arrived at the training ground with the rank of observers. This interest is quite understandable. The CIS air defense system is, in fact, the only military-coalition association in the post-Soviet space that demonstrates permanent capacity.
Obviously, it was not by chance that last Saturday after the meeting of the Committee for Coordination of Air Defense Issues under the Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS countries, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of the Belarusian Armed Forces, Major General S. Lemeshevsky, said that his country was considering the possibility of purchasing modern anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia. 400. Representatives of Belarus have repeatedly stated such intentions before. Back in May of this year, Pavel Borodin, State Secretary of the Union Association of Russia and Belarus, reported that the issue of supplying Belarus with the latest anti-aircraft missile systems of the development and production of the Almaz-Antey concern C-400 Triumph was basically resolved. After the actual failure of the negotiations between Moscow and NATO on the creation of a single missile defense system in Europe, which were held this summer, Russia is currently in practical terms deciding whether it is possible to deploy C-400 battalions in Belarus.
An indirect confirmation of such intentions is the official statement by the representative of the Information Department and the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense for the Air Force V. Drick that trained combat crews will take part in the Shield of the Union-2011 exercises launched on September 16 and conducted jointly by Russia and Belarus air defense forces equipped with C-400. Pyotr Tikhonovsky, head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, disclosing the intent of these maneuvers, said: "In practice, we are working on the use of a unified territorial air defense system, which will later be used not only to protect against air attack weapons, but also to cover ground forces." Meanwhile, there have been no official statements from Russia about the possible transfer of the C-400 divisions to the neighboring Belarus. First of all, this is due to the problem that has arisen in Russia regarding the integration of its own armed forces with C-400 systems. Russian Defense Minister A. Serdyukov has repeatedly stated the need to build several new plants for the manufacture of air defense missile systems. However, the defense industry obviously does not cope with the task.
Meanwhile, Russia apparently has certain obligations on the delivery of air defense weapons, not only to Minsk. The closest allies of Russia - Armenia and Kazakhstan - are also waiting for the signing of contracts for the installation of C-300 and C-400 air defense systems on their territory.
According to Igor Korotchenko, director of the Trade Analysis Center weapons in the world, at the moment, the concern Almaz-Antey "began the construction of three new plants for the production of a series of modern air defense systems and systems." True, a logical question arises: when will these plants work? According to the official representatives of the Almaz-Antey concern and the government, the commissioning of new capacities for the production of air defense systems is expected no earlier than by 2015.
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