Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
April 8, 2005, Friday
THE CIS ANTI-AIRCRAFT SYSTEM VERSUS RUSSIAN MISSILE CARRIERS
SOURCE: Kommersant, April 6, 2005, p. 10
by Ivan Safronov
Combined exercises were conducted in the sky of eight CIS nations on
April 5. The Tu-160, Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers of the Russian
strategic aviation (the 22nd air division) were relocated from Russia
to Belarus. They simulated the flight of enemy bombers, which
Belarusian anti-aircraft units had to intercept during the exercise
of the CIS anti-aircraft system. Correspondent Ivan Safronov observed
the exercise from the Central command post located in the town of
Zarya, the Moscow region.
The exercise began at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time over Russia, Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
The command set very difficult tasks. Colonel-General Boris Cheltsov,
Chief of the Central Staff of the Russian Air Force, said that almost
60 warplanes were involved in the maneuvers. General of the Army
Vladimir Mikhailov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force,
controlled the exercise from the Central command post located in
Tajikistan.
The Central Staff of the Russian Air Force decided to combine these
maneuvers with the exercise of the CIS anti-aircraft system. The
Tu-160, Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bomber of the 22nd air division moved
from Russia to Belarus, simulating the flight of enemy warplanes.
They were intercepted by Belarusian anti-aircraft units thanks to the
A-50 long-range radio-locating surveillance plane. Two Tu-95MS and
two Tu-160 bombers landed on the Machulishi airfield near Minsk. Four
Tu-22M3 bombers landed in Baranovichi.
In addition, the military organized a hypothetical skyjacking of a
warplane. At first Russia’s Su-24 warplane played the role of the
skyjacked plane. After that a Belarusian warplane was “skyjacked”.
Fighters forced both warplanes to land. Belarusian Su-24 took off
from the Ros airfield near Gomel and landed on the Siverskaya
airfield in the Leningrad region. Russian warplanes flew from Russia
to Belarus. Several MiG-31 fighters of the Kazakh Air Force and
Russian fighters from Karaganda took off in order to intercept them.
The Russian group landed in Karaganda, and the Kazakh fighters
visited Novosibirsk after accomplishing their tasks.
In addition, the Russian airbase in Kant (Kyrgyzstan) and Russian
anti-aircraft units deployed in Armenia and Tajikistan were involved
in the exercise. It should be noted that three A-50 long-range
radio-locating surveillance planes participated in the maneuvers.
They flew over Belarus and Tajikistan. Georgia did not let one A-50
plane fly over its territory to Armenia. Colonel-General Boris
Cheltsov said, “This is why the plane had to solve its task over the
North-Caucasian region. However, this did not worsen the results.”