RUSSIA, ARMENIA TO SET UP JOINT AIR DEFENSE NETWORK

RIA Novosti
15:04 | 13/ 02/ 2009

MOSCOW, February 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and Armenia will set
up an integrated air defense network similar to recently announced
Russian-Belarusian air defenses, the head of a post-Soviet security
bloc said on Friday.

"The so-called Russian-Belarusian integrated air defense network is
just a part of the cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO)," Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said.

"We are expecting Russia and Armenia to set up a similar joint [air
defense] network," he said at a news conference in Moscow.

According to Bordyuzha, the CSTO, which comprises Russia, Belarus,
the Caucasus republic of Armenia and four Central Asian states of
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, will set up three
regional air defense networks – in Eastern Europe (Belarus), in the
Caucasus and in Central Asia.

"After that we will advance to a higher level of cooperation,
coordinating the activity of all regional networks and introducing
common rules of engagement and information exchange," the official
said.

Russia announced last year it was planning to expand military-technical
cooperation with CSTO members and build a CSTO integrated air defense
network.

Russia and Belarus signed on February 3 an agreement on the joint
protection of the Russia-Belarus Union State’s airspace and the
creation of an integrated regional air defense network.

The network will comprise five Air Force units, 10 anti-aircraft
units, five technical service and support units and one electronic
warfare unit, and will be placed under the command of a Russian or
Belarusian Air Force or Air Defense Force senior commander.

Kazakhstan announced on Wednesday that Russia would deliver the
latest version of the S-300 air defense missile system, called
S-300PMU2 Favorit (SA-20 Gargoyle), to the Central Asian state in
the near future.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress