Translated material
Theater of war
Russia and the United States demonstrate their combat power to each other in the Far East
Yesterday, strategic command and staff exercises on controlling groupings of troops and forces in the Eastern region “Vostok-2007” began. This large-scale action is led by the Chief of the General Staff, Army General Yuri Baluevsky. The exercises will last until November 3. And the United States has just conducted another successful test of one of the main components of the Thaad missile defense system nearby, in the Pacific Ocean.During the exercises, the military command and control bodies of the district, together with operational groups of other law enforcement agencies, will have to work out issues of command and control of troops and forces throughout the Far East. In particular, we are talking about localizing internal armed conflicts, eliminating illegal armed groups and terrorist groups. In addition, the security forces will check how the unified system of logistics and technical support for troops of different subordination in the region works.
The Russian Armed Forces will work out, in particular, their actions in the event of humanitarian, environmental and man-made disasters in the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts. Military command and control bodies, troops and military commissariats of the Eastern region of the country, as well as operational groups of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia were involved in the exercises.
New colors are added to the picture of the battles unfolding in the Russian Far East by the flights of the strategic missile carriers Tu-160 and Tu-95MS , performing air patrols and launching cruise missiles. Their flights last from eight to seventeen hours. Russian air “strategists” are accompanied by NATO F-16 and Tornado fighters, which sometimes follow them for five hours. “The fighters followed a parallel course, without interfering with the crews’ ability to carry out their assigned tasks,” says the Russian Air Force General Staff. Flights are carried out in strict accordance with the International Rules for the Use of Airspace, over neutral waters, without violating the borders of other states.
Meanwhile, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, arrived in the Far East these days for an inspection. The purpose of the commander-in-chief's working trip is a final inspection of the training of the command and control bodies and forces of the Pacific Fleet in 2007 and the organization of planning for all types of training for 2008. The Commander-in-Chief focused on the issues of the long-term development of the fleet, its bases, and the social security of Far Eastern sailors. The Commander-in-Chief visited ship repair facilities, checked the state of naval aviation, and got acquainted with the progress of dismantling nuclear submarines withdrawn from the fleet.
It just so happened that these days in the Far East, over the Pacific Ocean, the United States conducted another test of one of the main components of the Thaad missile defense system. As reported by the US Missile Defense Agency: an anti-missile missile equipped with a projectile that uses kinetic energy (as opposed to nuclear energy) hit a target within the atmosphere. Interestingly, the target used was a Soviet-designed Scud missile. This target missile was launched from a floating platform.
The United States carried out previous similar missile defense launches in January and April of this year. In June, the same tests were carried out at a test site in New Mexico. The Taad system, as conceived by the American military, should provide protection for US troops, their allies, as well as important facilities from almost all types of ballistic missiles.
The peculiarity of this system is this: it intercepts the warhead on the final flight path - during the last minute of approach to the target. The Pentagon has agreed to the production of the first two Taad complexes. These are six launchers, 48 interceptor missiles and two command posts. The Lockheed Martin company entered into a $619 million agreement with the military department. Taad, as planned, will be part of a single integrated US missile defense system. Other components of this system will be interceptor missiles in Alaska, California and Eastern Europe. The systems will enter service with the troops in 2009. However, if you believe the commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Nikolai Solovtsov, all these efforts are in vain, since the new Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles are capable of overcoming any, including promising, missile defense.