World news

UN/UNDP Resident Coordinator in Belarus Sanaka Samarasinha praised the progress made in the implementation of the project on Safe Storage of Light and Small Arms Stockpiles conducted jointly by OSCE, EU, UNDP and the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Belarus. Sanaka Samarasinha took part in an opening ceremony for a number of modernized facilities – a repair shop and a storage area for light and small arms stockpiles in one of the military units of Gomel.

According to the coordinator, the implementation of the project will help to align the practices of light and small arms storage with the recommendations contained in the UN comprehensive regulations on disarmament. “It will promote stability in Central and Eastern Europe through strengthening security in the stores of light and small arms to reduce the proliferation risks,” Sanaka Samarasinha said at the briefing.

Under the project, the storehouses for light and small arms have been renovated, with the installation of perimeter fences, intrusion protection systems, fire alarm systems, perimeter alarms, indoor and outdoor lighting systems. 13 military units have been supplied with equipment and materials to strengthen security in the stores, as well as the required fire safety equipment.

The OSCE and EU states have so far allocated almost $3.3 million. The money will be used to modernize seven military units. About $4.6 million is necessary to complete the project.

Head of the EU Delegation in Belarus Maira Mora, who also took part in the opening ceremony, told media: “This is an investment in important things. As the military say, no cases of loss of small arms have been registered in Belarus so far. However, the country spent more money on the security systems than it will after the modernization.”

Belarus will get four combat and training aircraft Yak-130 in April, BelTA learned from Oleg Demchenko, President of Irkut Corporation.

“We are going to deliver four Yak-130 aircraft to Belarus in April,” said Oleg Demchenko during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) 2015 in Malaysia.

BelTA reported earlier that Minsk expects the first wing of the combat and training aircraft Yak-130 to be delivered by the end of March. The contract on buying these aircraft was signed in late 2012. Belarus is the first CIS country to buy Yak-130.

Oleg Demchenko also mentioned plans to supply four jet fighters Su-30SM to Astana. “So in April we will export eight aircraft: four for Kazakhstan and four for Belarus,” he specified.

Speaking about plans to sell aircraft to other CIS states, the Irkut Corporation head mentioned they were in negotiations with Armenia and Uzbekistan.

Yak-130 (NATO designation – Mitten) is designed to offer combat training to pilots and can be used to attack aerial and ground targets. The aircraft is meant to train pilots to fly combat aircraft of the four-plus generation and the fifth generation. The first Yak-130s took wing in 1996. In 2012 Yak-130 was chosen to be the main aircraft for training pilots for the Russian Air Force.

A joint tabletop exercise of the united command of the Belarusian-Russian regional military group began on 23 March with a view to practicing using the regional group for the sake of military security of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, according to the representatives of the Belarusian Defense Ministry.

The source explained that the tabletop exercise had been arranged as part of the army's training plan for the academic year of 2014-2015. The staff exercise will last through 27 March. It is supervised by Major-General Oleg Belokonev, Chief of the General Staff of the Belarusian army, First Deputy Defense Minister of the Republic of Belarus.

As part of the exercise representatives of the Belarusian and Russian defense ministries will continue practicing the joint planning of the application of the troops considering the experience of armed conflicts of recent years with a view to ensuring the military security of the Union State. The exercise is a logical continuation of the series of joint exercises and is meant to improve the operational compatibility of military control agencies of the two countries that will take part in the Belarusian-Russian army exercise Union Shield 2015.

The staff training includes units of the Defense Ministry, the General Staff and the Armed Forces, operational groups of the Air Force and Air Defense Command, the Special Operations Command, staffs of territorial defense zones, central government agencies of Belarus. Taking part in the exercise are officers of the Russian army as part of the united command of the regional army group and the operational group of the Western Military District of the Russian army.

The source specified that the exercise is taking place at stationary command posts of the army, the Air Force and Air Defense units, the Special Operations Command, and headquarters of territorial defense zones.

On 10-11 March, 2015 training exercise on missile attacks control and artillery fire control is taking place at firing range “Osipovichsky” under the direction of Major-General O. Zemskov -Chief Missile Forces, Rockets and Artillery of the Armed Forces General Staff .

Over 500 militaries and around 150 units of military and special equipment of the 231^st artillery brigade, 427^th artillery regiment, artillery of 120^th  and 19^th  independent guards mechanized brigades, independent missile division of the 336^th artillery brigade take part in the activity.

Multiple Rocket Launcher Systems “Smerch”, “Uragan”, self-propelled howitzers 2S3 “Akatsia”, 2S1 “Gvozdika”, howitzers 2A65 “Msta-B” are involved in training exercise.

Exercises’ main objectives – mastering of commanders’ and staff skills  in continuous control of  military units and subunits in conditions of rapidly developing tactical situations, as well as operational coordination and field training of missile and artillery subunits at tasks accomplishment. 

Fire for effect planning and control of the actions of military units and subunits of missile troops and artillery, as well as application of missile and artillery commands in reconnaissance-fire situations, applying unmanned aircraft complexes are practiced to perfection during training exercises.

Training exercises will be resulted in evaluation of military command personnel qualification as well as military troops and artillery subunits teamwork.

Russia intends to put more aircraft and helicopters on duty in Belarus, learned from Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus Alexander Surikov during the press conference in Minsk on 17 December.

The diplomat reminded that Russian jet fighters have been on duty in Belarus since December 2013. “Plans have been made to increase the amount of hardware on duty up to 12 combat aircraft and two trainer aircraft. The first wing of four military helicopters Mi-8 will be deployed to bolster the on-duty forces in the Belarusian airspace. The Belarusian army will also get four air defense missile systems S-300,” said Alexander Surikov.

According to the Ambassador, Belarus and Russia cooperate in the military sphere and the military technology sphere rather successfully. “As many as 99 Belarusian enterprises and 940 Russian enterprises use manufacturing cooperation schemes to make end products. The share of Belarusian products in the Russian defense order is already at 15%. And the Russian defense order is a colossal amount of money,” noted Alexander Surikov.