Russia to create Air and Space Defence Force
05. October 2011. | 08:27
Source: Voice of Russia
Russia will create Air and Space Defence Forces by the 1st of December. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insisted on the necessity to form them during his State of the Nation address in November last year. The new forces will be based on Russia’s Space Force.
Russia will create Air and Space Defence Forces by the 1st of December. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev insisted on the necessity to form them during his State of the Nation address in November last year. The new forces will be based on Russia’s Space Force.
According to the commander of the Space Force, Lieutenant-General Oleg Ostapenko, the first phase of the move will be devoted to the development of the first space echelon that warns of a missile attack. As a whole, the new forces will be an integrated system of space surveillance and missile, space and air defence aimed at averting external threats.
Although experts support the idea, they call in question the possibility of uniting a large variety of weapon-systems under a single command. All agree that on the 1st of December, one can talk about Air and Space Defence Forces in general terms because this will be a huge military structure, says a military expert Alexander Khramchikhin:
“A real defence of the territory will hardly be created within 20 years even if everything goes smoothly. Moreover, the new forces will be created on the basis of the Space Force, which is only ten years old and has never had means to hit targets although such means will sharply strengthen the Air and Space Forces. It will be a serious problem to manage these systems properly,” Alexander Khramchikhin said.
Some experts disagree with him. The main thing is to implement the idea, says head of the Military Forecasting Centre, Anatoly Tsyganok:
“First and foremost, specialists have to be trained. There should be a military Academy that will train officers. Weapons have to be developed, and contract-soldiers have to be trained. Until recently, the creation of the Air and Space Defence Forces has been under question. A decision has been taken, and I believe that Russia will create Air and Space Defence Forces in 2-3 years,” Anatoly Tsyganok said.
The formation of the new forces is taking place on against a complicated foreign policy background. Talks with the U.S. on the creation of a joint global missile defence system are stuck. Russian experts believe that Russia must develop its own missile defence system in any case before a compromise is reached with the Americans. The main obstacle is that Washington is rejecting to conclude a legally binding agreement on not directing the missile system that is being developed in the West against Russia. According to Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, disregard of Russia’s worries might lead to the point of no return. The creation of the Air and Space Defence Forces is a compulsory measure, but it will give the country a real feeling of self-defence says Dmitry Rogozin. The ideal situation would be Russia’s partners realizing the necessity of creating a joint global missile defence system. At present, this is a dream of distant future.
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