MOSCOW: Russia plans to overhaul its air defense forces after gaining new experience in the war in Ukraine and will also bolster its air defenses to counter Finland’s accession to the NATO military alliance, a commander in Russia’s aerospace forces said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year in what it calls “a special military operation,” the fighting has descended into a grinding artillery war with extensive use of drones and missiles, testing the air defenses of both Russia and Ukraine.
In an interview published on Monday with the Red Star newspaper, Lt. Gen. Andrei Demin, deputy commander-in-chief of aerospace forces, said air defense forces had faced a number of challenges in the face of Ukrainian strikes.
Russia, he said, had added more than 50 mobile radar stations and A-50 early warning and control aircraft patrolled 24 hours a day while missile and anti-aircraft installations in regions next to Ukraine had been bolstered.
In Ukrainian regions under Russian control, air defense units had been set up to defend key installations, Demin said, while Russia had ramped up production of the RLK-MC anti-drone system.
Reforms “are undoubtedly planned and will be implemented,” Demin told the defense ministry’s newspaper. “The purpose of the upcoming changes is the development of the armed forces, aimed at improving the air defense system of the Russian Federation.”
Demin said that Russia would also bolster is defenses after Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (800-mile) border with Russia, joined NATO.
“In these conditions, the air defense forces are working out issues of protecting the state border in the north-west of the country in accordance with the increased threat level,” Demin said.
Russia plans air defense reform, to bolster defenses near Finland
https://arab.news/muvce
Russia plans air defense reform, to bolster defenses near Finland
M23 rebel spokesperson killed in Congo army drone strike, officials say
- M23 controls large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces
- The attack happened near Rubaya, in North Kivu
DAKAR: The military spokesperson for the M23 rebel group, Willy Ngoma, was killed in an army drone strike in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, a regional diplomat, a senior rebel official and a Western adviser to the government said.
The killing comes as Qatar-mediated ceasefire efforts continue, with Kinshasa and M23 having signed agreements in Doha to establish a joint ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism involving Qatar, the United States and the African Union as observers.
M23, which the United Nations says is backed by Rwanda, controls large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces after a rapid offensive last year in which the rebels seized the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavu.
The attack happened near Rubaya, in North Kivu, at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), and came after several days of sustained drone attacks on the area by the Congolese army, the senior M23 official told Reuters.
Rubaya is a strategic coltan-mining hub that produces around 15 percent of the world’s supply, making it a key financial stronghold for the M23 rebels. A spokesperson for the Congolese presidency declined to comment and a spokesperson for Congo’s army did not immediately respond.
