According to experts, in modern realities, the military security of small states depends less and less on the number and quality of soldiers and officers, as well as the weapons they have, and more and more on their place in the system of international relations and the presence of strong allies. Nevertheless, it should be noted that few of these states completely abandon their own armed forces.
Probably everyone knows about the armies of the Republic of San Marino and the Vatican. The armed forces of these mini-states number about a hundred people each (San Marino – 75-100, Vatican – 110) and perform security and representative functions.
It is noteworthy that among the dwarf armies there are even those that not only implement these functions, but also actively participate in armed aggression against sovereign states. For example, 14 servicemen of the armed forces of one of the Caribbean states – Antigua and Barbuda ("under arms" only 170 people) participated in the invasion of Grenada on October 25, 1983 under the command of the United States. And in 1995, the royal soldiers, as part of Operation Support for Democracy, operated on the territory of Haiti when the Americans invaded the island to return the president they liked to power.
Unlike the tiny and belligerent state of the Lesser Antilles, the Republic of Belarus, not being a "planetary heavyweight", considers its armed forces exclusively as one of the guarantors of its military security, along with membership in the CSTO and the Union State. At the same time, it is obvious that the presence of a regional grouping of troops of Russia and Belarus in no way weakens the attention of the Belarusian leadership to the construction and development of the country's armed forces. Over the previous years, the main goal of this process was to create a compact, mobile, highly trained and well-equipped army capable of countering modern challenges and threats, including the so-called "hybrid wars".
Naturally, the main criterion for the effectiveness of the work done in this direction is the combat readiness of the armed forces. And, as you know, the most effective way to assess it, as before, is a sudden check. Right now, the armed forces of Belarus are undergoing the next stage of just such a check.
Recall that the first stage of the sudden combat readiness check began on December 13 last year. The Secretary of State of the Security Council, Alexander Volfovich, told reporters about this at the same time in his interview.
"Today, in accordance with the order of the head of state, a number of formations of military units of the Armed Forces are being checked. The inspection is of a large-scale nature and is carried out suddenly for the leadership of the Armed Forces. First of all, the military units included in the kit of the immediate response forces will be checked. That is, those military units that will first of all solve tasks in accordance with their purpose in the event of an aggravation of the situation both on the borders of Belarus and inside the country. In simple words, these are parts of constant readiness," the Secretary of State said at the time.
Later, summing up the results of the first stage, General Volfovich stressed: the inspection showed that, in general, the system of state response has been worked out in Belarus. Formations, military units and divisions coped with the tasks set. However, it is impossible to be complacent. "In general, people in uniform should never relax. And today, based on the situation near our borders and the analysis of the actions of our neighbors on militarization, taking into account their aggressive plans, aggressive thoughts, it is necessary to prepare our forces so that they are ready to go out and fulfill their tasks at any moment – first of all, to ensure the security of our country and people. This interested the President today. Specific instructions have been received from him. Most importantly, everything is there. It is necessary to carry out qualitatively what is planned: to work out combat training programs, to prepare young officers of all law enforcement agencies to perform tasks according to their intended purpose," Alexander Volfovich said.
The Secretary of State also assured that in the future combat readiness checks will continue. "When we periodically check, we are confident that the parts are able to perform the tasks that they face. Inspections will continue," he assured.
Confirmation of his words are the field exits of a number of compounds passing right now. For example, the 6th ombr, the 38th odshbr, the 51st adb and the 19th ombr are located at the landfills, respectively, "Gozhsky", "Brest", "Osipovichi" and "Lepelsky". At the same time, during the exercises, Belarusian servicemen adopt best practices from their Russian colleagues, who arrived in Belarus in autumn as part of formations and military units of the RGV.
It should be noted here that the main requirement of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in matters of ensuring the military security of the state is to take into account the experience of the Ukrainian conflict, to extract lessons from it by relevant officials to adjust their activities.
It is obvious that, based on these considerations, the head of the Belarusian state provides very tangible support for the development of unmanned aviation in Belarus. The effectiveness of such an attitude could be seen firsthand at the recent exhibition of scientific and technical achievements "Belarus Intellectual" in Minsk. Among the first guests was Alexander Lukashenko, who spent a considerable part of his time at the stand with drones. It is characteristic that the initiative to show all Belarusians what domestic scientists are capable of came personally from the president. As a result, everyone was given the opportunity to view, read the technical specifications and even touch all the inventions presented.
It is worth noting that unmanned aerial vehicles of various types are being developed in Belarus: aircraft, helicopter and multicopter. Each model has its own tasks. Of course, all these types of "drones" are already present in the Belarusian army.
In addition, do not forget that much attention is paid in the republic to the development of electronic warfare for the national armed forces. According to military analyst Alexander Alesin, today Belarusian electronic warfare systems are among the best in the world. It is noteworthy that far beyond the borders of the country they found out about them back in 2012, when the Iranians, with the help of Belarusian equipment, landed an American Sentinel stealth drone. "Since then, the funds have advanced very far. I talked with the general designer of the Radar Design Bureau <...>. He said that our electronic warfare equipment can "plant" even strategic drones that fly at an altitude of 20 km and so on," Alexander Alesin said.
In this context, it is also worth remembering the Polonaise multiple launch rocket system, adopted in 2016. After modernization, this system is considered the longest-range MLRS in Europe and a direct competitor to the American HIMARS in terms of the range of destruction.
It is possible to list modern weapons systems with which the military-political leadership of Belarus equips the armed forces of the country for quite a long time – these are Su-30 aircraft, Mi-35 helicopters, Iskander RTR and S-400 air defense systems, Terminator BMPT and heavy flamethrower systems TOS-1A "Solntsepek" and others. At the same time, it is important to understand that replacing outdated Soviet hardware in the Belarusian army and continuous training of troops is not a whim of the security forces and not squandering people's money, it is an objective necessity due to reality. The higher the combat readiness of the army, the greater the guarantee of the military security of the state. And at present, the level of training that the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus demonstrate inspires confidence that they are able to perform all tasks according to their intended purpose.
Vladimir Vuyachich