The Joint Air Defense System of the CIS member States (hereinafter referred to as the CIS Air Defense System) is one of the most sought–after and effective systems of multilateral military cooperation in the post–Soviet space.
The Agreement on the creation of a unified air defense system of the member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed by the heads of the CIS member States on February 10, 1995 in Alma Ata (Kazakhstan).
Currently, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan participate in the Agreement.
The term of the agreement is unlimited, and it is open for other countries to join.
The main objectives of the CIS Air Defense System are reliable protection of the air borders of the participating States, warning of the threat/beginning of an aerospace attack, and protection of the most important facilities of the participating States from air and space strikes.
The CIS Air Defense System unites the forces and means of air defense of the participating states to jointly solve tasks in the interests of all participating States.
The air defense forces and means of each of the participating States solve the tasks of air defense of their territories independently and in cooperation with the air defense forces of neighboring participating States.
Official information on the composition of the forces and assets of the United Air Defense System of the CIS member states has not been disclosed .
However, according to open sources, the CIS Air Defense System includes 19 aviation units, 38 units of anti-aircraft missile forces, 15 units of radio engineering troops, nine air defense brigades and three electronic warfare units.
Forces and assets include : Dnepr (Kazakhstan), Volga (Belarus), Voronezh-VP radar stations and others; S-200, S-300 Favorit, S-350 Vityaz, S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems and systems.-500 Prometheus and Pantsir-S1 missile and cannon complex; Su-27, Mig-29, MiG-31 fighter aircraft, Su-24 bomber aircraft, Su-25 assault aircraft, Tu-22M3, Tu-160, Tu-95MS long-range aircraft, Ka-27, Mi-8.
A part of the forces and means of the OS Air Defense carries out permanent combat duty to protect the air borders of the participating states.
The direct control of the troops and air defense forces of each participating State is carried out by the commanders of the air defense forces of these States. Coordination of the actions of the forces and means of the OS air defense is carried out by the Control Center of the Russian Air Force.
In order to coordinate all efforts to create and improve the unified air defense system of the CIS member states and coordinate the actions of the troops and forces of the CIS Air Defense System, in accordance with the basic Agreement of February 10, 1995, the Coordinating Committee on Air Defense Issues under the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS countries was established and operates.
The Coordination Committee consists of the Chairman, the members of the Coordination Committee – the Commanders (commanders-in-Chief) Air Defense (VKS, Air Defense, Air Force and Air Defense, SVO) of the States parties to the Agreement, as well as the Deputy Chairman and other officials appointed by decision of the Council of Ministers of Defense.
The Committee is a working body of the CIS CFR that ensures the national and collective security of the airspace of the Commonwealth states in peacetime and wartime. The Committee organizes and conducts a range of practical measures aimed at improving the training of troops and the protection of airspace, including in the regions of collective security.
Command and staff training sessions are regularly conducted with the command authorities and the air defense forces of the CIS Air Defense System, in which the operational groups of the commanders-in-Chief (commanders) take part Air defense (VKS, Air defense, Air Force and Air Defense, SVO), combat crews of central command posts, command posts of associations, formations and military units of the CIS Air Defense System member countries, as well as air defense forces and aviation forces allocated to the united air defense system from these states.
The most important event of combat training, its culmination and a real test of the combat capability of the CIS Air Defense system is the joint combat training exercise "Combat Commonwealth". It was first held in September 1998. Since then, it has become a tradition and is held once every two years.
During the exercises, the joint use of aviation groups and air defense forces of the CIS member states in anti–terrorist operations and in armed conflicts is being practiced. Other objectives of the event include improving the level of combat coordination of the air defense forces, identifying problematic issues of joint use of troops (forces) of the CIS joint air defense system.
As part of the overall development of the CIS joint air defense system, joint air defense systems have been created and are operating in the regions of collective security, which has significantly increased the ability to protect the airspace of the States parties to the Agreement.
At the present stage, the task of containing strategic military threats, which are gradually moving into the aerospace and information spheres, is coming to the fore, posing a threat to the national security of all CIS countries.
Yevgeny Klemez, Director of the Department for Security Cooperation of the CIS Executive Committee, noted that "the development of existing forms of use and methods of action of groups of troops today determines the need to expand the list of tasks solved by the CIS joint air defense system, which includes the development of anti-drone weapons, not only air defense and electronic warfare, but also and scenarios of aerial battles between drones."
According to experts, the existence and development of the CIS unified air defense system is an essential component of ensuring and strengthening the military security of the Commonwealth states. The Air defense system plays an important role in strengthening military and military-technical cooperation between the Commonwealth countries, and contributes to the successful development of integration processes in other areas of cooperation in the CIS format.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
