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Ex-Soviet States To Set Up 3 Joint Regional Air Defense Networks

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  • Ex-Soviet States To Set Up 3 Joint Regional Air Defense Networks

    EX-SOVIET STATES TO SET UP 3 JOINT REGIONAL AIR DEFENSE NETWORKS

    RIA Novosti
    September 16, 2009
    ASTRAKHAN (South Russia)

    ASTRAKHAN (South Russia), September 16 (RIA Novosti) - Several
    members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are involved
    in creating three joint regional air defense structures as part of
    the CIS integrated air defense network.

    Members of the Coordinating Committee on Air Defense under the CIS
    Defense Ministers' Council met in Astrakhan on Wednesday and discussed
    setting up East European, Caucasus,

    and Central Asian air defense networks.

    The CIS integrated air defense network was set up by 10 CIS member
    countries on February 10, 1995. The main purpose of the network is
    to secure member-states' airspace, including through early warning
    of missile attacks and coordination of joint efforts to neutralize
    potential aerial threats.

    The network currently comprises 46 units equipped with S-200 and
    S-300 air defense missile systems, 23 fighter units equipped with
    MiG-29, MiG-31 and Su-27 aircraft, 22 electronic support units and
    two electronic warfare detachments.

    The East European network will be set up by Russia and Belarus in
    line with an agreement signed in February on the joint protection
    of the Russia-Belarus Union State's airspace and the creation of an
    integrated regional air defense network.

    It 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.

    Belarus has several Russian-made S-300 air defense battalions on
    combat duty, and has long been negotiating the purchase of advanced
    S-400 systems from Russia, which should be available in 2010.

    The Caucasus air defense network will be set up by Russia and
    Armenia. The draft agreement is still in the works and needs additional
    negotiations to ensure "clear principles of the deployment and command
    of air defense forces."

    "The draft document will be ready by the end of 2009," said
    Col. Nikolai Babayan, chief of Armenia's Air Defense Forces.

    Unlike the East European and Central Asian commands, the airspace of
    the Caucasus network will not be continuous as Georgia and Azerbaijan
    separate Russia and Armenia.

    Maj. Gen. Okas Saparov, deputy commander of Kazakhstan's Air Defense
    Forces, said that a working group has been formed to discuss setting
    up a joint Central Asian regional air defense network, which will
    involve Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

    "Most of the issues dealing with drafting up an agreement [on a joint
    air defense network] have been resolved," Saparov said.

    Kazakhstan signed a contract with Russia in March on the purchase of
    S-300 air defense missile systems, while Russia operates an airbase
    in the city of Kant, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside the Kyrgyz
    capital, Bishkek.
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