DUSHANBE, October 21, 2014, Asia-Plus – Seven CIS member nations today began training to improve interaction between control units of Joint CIS Air Defense System, according to the press center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Nearly 100 aircraft of pursuit aviation (Su-27, Mig-29 and Mig-31), bomber forces (Su-24), attack aviation (Su-24) and long-range aviation (Tu-22, Tu-160 and Tu-95) as well as helicopters Ka-24 and Mi-8 have reportedly been involved in the training.
Sub-units of radio-radar and missile troops of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are also participating in the training that is being conducted in air spaces of these countries, the source says.
Joint CIS Air Defense System is a unified system that comprises air defense units and elements of the former Soviet republics under control of AA Defense Coordinating Committee of the CIS. Currently there are 6 de facto members of JADS: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. It was established by 1995 Almaty agreement. This agreement was also signed by Georgia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan; Georgia and Turkmenistan, however, ceased their membership in 1997, while Uzbekistan is maintaining cooperation with Russia on a bilateral basis.
General aims of Joint AD System are the following: protection of air boundaries of the CIS member states; joint control of the CIS airspace; monitoring of aerospace posture; air/missile strike early warning and coordinated response to it.
The Joint CIS AD System doesn”t have a single commander. It is controlled by Air Defense Coordinating Committee of the CIS whose members are commanders of air defense troops or air forces of the member states.
