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Defending Sky Together: Meeting On The Coordinating Committee For An

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  • Defending Sky Together: Meeting On The Coordinating Committee For An

    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.
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