World news

China Aerospace Corporation Long March plans to take part in the 7th international armaments and materiel expo MILEX 2014 that will take place in Minsk Arena on 9-12 July.

It will be the first time the corporation will participate in the forum. A total of over 150 organizations, enterprises, and institutions from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and other CIS states will take part in the expo. Representatives of high-level foreign military delegations are expected to arrive in Minsk as well as weaponry experts and specialists, representatives of scientific circles, developers and designers from over 20 countries. Enterprises of the Belarusian State Defense Industries Committee will represent a large part of the expo: about 215 full-scale or breadboard models of military products or dual-use products. Taking part in the expo will be also organizations and institutions of the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the State Border Committee, and the Russian state corporation Rostech. A separate part of the expo will be dedicated to capabilities of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The expo will also feature a united stand of the Belarusian Education Ministry, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, and the State Science and Technology Committee.

Participants of the expo will showcase their high-tech innovative products in the area of space industry instrument-making, robotics (unmanned aerial units, including air and sea-based ones, remotely controlled weapons), navigation and communication systems, fire control systems; optic, optic-electronic systems and sights; wheeled basic chassis for installing armaments and other special automobiles for military uses; information and telecommunication technologies (protected computers, information visualization solutions, integrated weaponry and troops control systems). Services relating to the repair and modernization of aviation equipment, armored vehicles and air defense systems, radio warfare systems will also be represented.

For the first time MILEX 2014 will feature a perimeter defense sector. Belarusian and foreign specialists and developers have already shown their interest in it. Apart from cutting-edge military products and promising products the expo will feature vehicles and weapons of the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period in the open air. The outdated military hardware has been restored and repaired by the Belarusian Defense Ministry and Belarusian defense enterprises. Many of the exhibits will be later used during the military parade in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from the Nazi invaders.

A business program will be an important component of the expo. Close attention will be paid to the 6th international scientific conference on military and technical problems that will feature panel sessions in several areas. Among other things participants of the conference are expected to discuss geoinformation control systems, automated systems to control troops and weapons, radio communication systems, and measures to counteract high-precision weaponry. Radio warfare, radio and radar intelligence collection will also be on the agenda.

Belarus sees a qualitatively new stage in the development of its defense complex, said Chairman of the State Defense Industries Committee Sergei Gurulev who accompanied Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko during a visit to OAO 558 Aircraft Repair Plant in Baranovichi on 2 April

According to Sergei Gurulev, the main point of the new stage is the provision of the Belarusian army with sophisticated armament and foreign supplies.

“We do not need the army of the mid 20th century any longer. Our country needs a modern army, and it should be based on special-operations and air assault forces as well as air defense,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

According to Sergei Gurulev, there is strong confidence in implementing the plans of the ongoing five-year period in the defense industries sector. He also informed on further development plans in the sector, development of new armament and military hardware, export volumes. According to the Chairman of the State Defense Industries Committee, there is a need to develop and produce new products which should be in demand in the Armed Forces. “Moreover, defense organizations should develop proactively,” he said. According to Sergei Gurulev, a conclusion was made after the consideration of the development concept for the sector through 2025 that the old basis, without new equipment, will be unable to bring progress and any positive results.

A tactical exercise involving air defense missile units of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense has begun as part of the second phase of the Belarusian army’s operational readiness test.

The exercise involves an air defense missile battalion of the 740th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Northwestern Tactical Command and an air defense missile battery of Tor-M2 systems of the 120th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Western Tactical Command of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense. As part of the exercise the units have already reached their designated areas in order to assume operational readiness to carry out air defense missions. The exercise is supervised by Colonel Andrei Dikanev, chief of the air defense missile troops.
In line with the plan for testing the Belarusian army’s operational readiness several Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense units have relocated to designated airfields.

In line with the plan for testing the Belarusian army’s operational readiness several Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense units have relocated to designated airfields.