http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/12-12-2008/106826-russia_nato-0
12.12.2008
Russia's open airspace can become priceless gift to NATO
Russia's only Aerospace Defense Academy (named after G. Zhukov) is likely to be
closed. The closing of the academy which trains air defense and space troops
personnel may lead to lamentable consequences for the nation, against the
background of other countries' efforts to strengthen their aviation and missile
defense. The events, which took place in Serbia in 1999, can serve a perfect
example of what such actions may lead to.
Russia's open airspace can become priceless gift to NATO
The academy is headquartered in the city of Tver - 150 kilometers far from
Moscow. The personnel of the academy has already been introduced to the
disestablishment plan from the Defense Ministry. There is no clear reason to
explain the decision, aside from the statement about the optimization of the
national armed forces, which stipulates the division of the minor units
structure and the reduction of educational institutions in the military.
The Aerospace Defense Academy in Tver was founded in 1957 by then-Defense
Minister Georgy Zhukov, the person, who has the reputation of the creator of
the USSR's victory in the Great Patriotic War. Zhukov used to say that a
country that cannot repel an air strike will have severe problems.
Tank raid become a matter of the past nowadays, when missile technologies
develop so speedily. A new term has appeared - a 'contact-free war.' NATO
opened a new era of military actions when it bombed Yugoslavia in 1999. Land
troops did not have to invade the country. A similar situation was observed in
Iraq in 1991 and 2003: land troops were virtually finishing those who stayed
alive after air strikes.
Such a scenario would be impossible during the Soviet times. NATO strategists
unanimously believed that any aggression against the USSR without the use of
nuclear arms would have been doomed. The USSR had a unique missile defense
system. It had over 150 fighter jets and almost 10,000 missile complexes. The
destruction of the nation's missile defense system began in 1991 when the
Soviet Union collapsed.
About two-thirds of the nation's missile potential found itself deployed in
foreign countries when the Soviet Union broke up. The battling capacity of the
system was cut six times. The massive joint system was split into several minor
systems being able to defend only separate objects.
The history of Serbia shows how exactly NATO may wage a war against Russia. The
North Atlantic Alliance has a plan, according to which Russia is supposed to be
involved into an armed conflict with one of the countries, which finds itself
in the sphere of vital interests of the West. NATO renders assistance to that
country sending weapons and specialists there. If it does not help, NATO will
have to demonstrate its readiness to take the situation under control.
In this case a regional conflict may grow into a large-scale armed conflict. In
addition, the plan says that Russia will not be able to respond by launching
its nukes because all or most of them will be already destroyed as a result of
massive air strikes. Russia would thus be forced to surrender .
The West already has hypersonic aircraft that can develop the speed of 5,000
km/h. Such an aircraft, launched from a NATO base in the Baltic region, may
reach St. Petersburg in only several minutes.
It goes without saying that Russia must have the highly qualified personnel to
be able to stand up to such threats. Those being able to accomplish these goals
graduate from the Tver Aerospace Defense Academy. Over 300 foreign military men
from 21 countries of the world - from Serbia to South Korea - study at the
academy at the moment. If the academy is disestablished, a catastrophe will
occur. It just so happens that Russia intends to get rid of the base on which
its army must stand to be able to resist the threats of the 21st century.
The closing of the academy contradicts to the strategy of President Medvedev
and Prime Minister Putin. The strategy particularly highlights the vital
importance of air and space security within the structure of the national
security on the whole.
It is worthy of note that the USA has been persistently inviting specialists of
the Tver Aerospace Academy to cooperate on missile defense system projects
since 1997. To crown it all, there is a serious shortage of the missile defense
personnel in Russia - the nation only has 7.500 people for thousands of
kilometers. It seems that the number has already reached the bottom line and
can be reduced no more.
Sergei Balmasov
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