COMMANDERS ARE PREPARED FOR COMBAT COOPERATION
by Denis Telmanov

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 18, 2008 Monday
Russia

Discussion of the air defense of the CIS passed as if there were no
war in Transcaucasia

A TRAINING AND METHODICAL ASSEMBLY OF AIR FORCE COMMANDERS OF THE
CIS MEMBER STATES TOOK PLACE IN DUSHANBE; Contrary to expectations,
participants of the training and methodical assembly of air force
commanders of the CIS member states fully ignored the Georgian-Ossetian
crisis and focused on continuing the modernization of the air defense
forces of their countries forming the united air defense system of
the CIS.

Contrary to expectations, participants of the training and methodical
assembly of air force commanders of the CIS member states fully
ignored the Georgian-Ossetian crisis and focused on continuing the
modernization of the air defense forces of their countries forming
the united air defense system of the CIS.

Representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Oleg Balayan, explained
this stance by saying that air battles took place at external borders
of the system and did not threaten its security.

At the meeting of the coordinating committee, it was decided that in
the next year, Russia would allocate 21.5 million rubles to member
states of the united air defense system of the CIS for modernization
of their air defense.

Of this amount, Tajikistan will receive 4 million rubles for the repair
of P-18 radar between September and October of 2008, Uzbekistan will
receive 1.3 million rubles for components for air defense systems
and Armenia will receive 3.4 million rubles for the restoration of
two missile aiming stations 1S32M1 in August of 2008. Belarus will
also be given 4.2 million rubles for repair of air defense missile
systems S-300 PS.

A representative of Belarus, commander of the Belarusian air force
and air defense forces, Igor Azarenok, was chosen as the chair of
the council.

According to Azarenok, since the beginning of the year, the main
efforts of the committee were aimed at the development of military
technological cooperation on bilateral and multilateral basis, as
well as at conduction of joint exercises. Staff command exercises
with participation of air force and air defense forces commanders
of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and
Ukraine took place on April 22. The exercises included 107 flights
of crews of 98 airplanes and helicopters. Russian airplanes performed
the biggest quantity of flights (67).

Radar reconnaissance A-50 airplanes were tested in the course of
the exercises in Belarus and Kazakhstan and Russian air base Kant in
Kyrgyzstan was used too.

The next exercises of the air defense system of the CIS Combat
Cooperation-2009 will take place at Ashuluk training range but their
content has not been approved and discussed yet. Participants of the
meeting say that the program of these exercises will be corrected
taking into account the conflict in South Ossetia.