DEFENDING SKY TOGETHER:
MEETING OF THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR ANTIAIRCRAFT DEFENSE OF
THE CIS COUNCIL OF DEFENSE MINISTERS ENDED IN YEREVAN, ARMENIA
by Oleg Gorupai

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
Source: Krasnaya Zvezda, February 17, 2007, p. 3
February 21, 2007 Wednesday

Update on the recent meeting of the Coordinating Committee for
Antiaircraft Defense of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers in
Yerevan.

Russian AF Commander General of the Army Vladimir Mikhailov said
when the meeting of the Coordinating Committee for Antiaircraft
Defense of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers and conference of
CIS AF and Antiaircraft Forces commanders were over in Yerevan, that
several regional antiaircraft defense systems were to be established
in the Commonwealth.

Documents are now being prepared concerning deployment of the
Russian-Belarussian Regional System. According to Mikhailov, they
are to be drafted in time for the next meeting of the Russian and
Belarussian defense ministers.

The Caucasus Regional System that will be modeled upon the
Russian-Belarussian one is expected to become the second step in the
program of establishing antiaircraft belt all around the Russian
perimeter. Serj Sarkisjan, Defense Minister and Secretary of the
Security Council of Armenia, claims that the Armenian aerial borders
are protected within the framework of the Armenian-Russian military
cooperation. Hence the importance attributed to this cooperation
in Yerevan.

Armenia and Russia made considerable progress in the organization of
joint combat duty in antiaircraft defense. Joint exercise drills are
quite regular nowadays, and information is shared on a permanent
basis. The problem of personnel training has been successfully
negotiated. And yet, Russia keeps aiding Armenia in the development
of the national antiaircraft defense system, Mikhailov said.

The establishment of the antiaircraft defense regional system in the
Central Asian region of collective security will be the third step.

Mikhailov said that the establishment of similar regional systems by
NATO did not scare Russia anymore because aerial borders of the CIS
were reliably defended. "We do not care if the NATO has a system like
that or not, because we see everything we need to see. With a system
like that built, NATO will come up with an analog of our system of a
late 1970’s vintage," Mikhailov shrugged. "Surprising us with anything
new is clearly beyond them."

Representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine attended the Coordinating Committee
meeting. The next meeting will take place in the third quarter of
the year. Mikhailov told the gathering that activities in 2006 had
mostly been centered on fulfilling the Joint Action Plan of the CIS
United Antiaircraft System and on advancing bilateral and multilateral
military and military-technical cooperation within its structure. A
conference of CIS AF commanders took place on the property of the
Central Shooting Range in Russia on August 22-23. Two meetings of
the Coordinating Committee in 2006 discussed 14 issues having to do
with combat training, its organization and implementation. Command
post exercises with antiaircraft defense command structures and
forces on duty were organized in April and October. They involved
operational teams of commanders of the air forces of Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
and Ukraine and antiaircraft defense measures assigned to the CIS
United Antiaircraft System. Crews of over 130 aircraft and helicopters
(Armenian, Belarussian, Kazakh, Russian, and Ukrainian) made more
than 140 flights during the exercises.

Mikhailov pointed out that military-technical cooperation between
partners was carried out in accordance with formal applications
from members of the CIS United Antiaircraft System. Specialists of
the Russian Defense Ministry repaired Krug installations for the
Armenians. An agreement was made for examination and certification
of Strela-2, Strela-3, and Strela-10 tactical missile installations
in 2007.

A command post exercise of the CIS United Antiaircraft System and
bilateral drills and command exercises (for the Uzbekistan, Ukrainian,
and Russian armies) were planned for 2007. Combat Brotherhood’2007
live-fire exercises will be prepared and carried out between June
and September.