IVATSEVICHI DISTRICT, 5 October (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko explained why instructions had been cut to develop new types of Belarus-made weapons and military hardware and to upgrade the existing hardware as he inspected new samples of Belarusian weapons and defense technology at a firing range in Ivatsevichi District, BelTA has learned.
“We have gathered here not to flex our muscles. It is no PR stunt. This is part of our daily routine,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
The head of state recalled that in recent years independent Belarus had to upgrade and adapt its Armed Forces to the contemporary context several times. The country took into account the lessons of wars and local conflicts in the world and opportunities offered by technological progress.
“I think it is our fourth attempt to upgrade our Armed Forces. This effort covers everything, not only the army,” the president noted.
At first it was necessary to determine the size of the army in such a compact country as Belarus. The government believed that Belarus did not need an army of 250,000-300,000 and decided to cut the army personnel to some 100,000 people. “We were forced to reduce the Armed Forces. Upgrading or developing something new was not even in question. We faced a challenge to preserve what we had inherited from the Soviet Union. Many remember that the then officials that are now seeking to get back to power started destroying everything. They sold destroyed armored vehicles prepared to be cast into NATO weapons to Germany. My decision to upgrade the army came after that havoc was over,” the president said.
According to him, then wars broke out, including in the Middle East. Against this background, Belarus set up research teams to study the modern warfare, to understand its features. “Reforming the armed forces, we had to adapt very swiftly. We are not going to fight in the desert. We have completely different conditions. We had to adapt the army and weapons to our conditions. Then came other wars. It was the third stage. We had to set up special operations forces. We realized that there will be no front-on-front wars, that we needed high-precision weapons, specially trained forces capable to defend the country and inflict unacceptable damage on the enemy,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
“Now we see what is happening close to our border, what is happening in Syria. Studying the situation, we absolutely understand what a war, God forbid, will look like, how we should defend ourselves, what the strength of our armed forces should be. “A task was set to embark on development of new types of weapons needed for Belarus' defense. As it takes a lot of money and resources to create something new, we had to dramatically upgrade what we had in order to keep it on the cutting edge. Not tanks, not jets, but special forces will make a difference for our Belarus,” the president noted.
“We need to be able to show up anywhere in Belarus (if something happens suddenly), destroy bandits or those who would dare to attack us and withdraw. This means speed, maneuverability. We needed to design new weapons for these troops - special ops and others,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
“We do not need aircraft carriers. We will not send our aircraft to foreign shores. We are not going to fight on the other end of the planet. We need to defend Belarus. And for that we need state-of-the-art army and weapons,” the president noted.
He also explained why the task was to design and produce arms domestically. “We are not sure we will get help if something happens. Examples abound. We have seen how some allies act. Besides Russia we have probably no one to rely on. We cannot rely even on Russia 100%. Well, today we have Putin and others. He understands us. I understand him. We somehow act together (though not always). No one knows what happens tomorrow. Therefore we need to be able to produce some basic weapons such as small arms, equipment for mobile forces, the things we can design and produce. We also should upgrade the equipment that we have,” the president said.
"Aircraft is no longer a weapon for us. The NATO radars see any plane on its takeoff. Today it is not a problem to destroy aircraft. They can do it. So can we. We can see any plane thousands of kilometers away. A plane costs $50 million. It takes one C-300 missile to destroy it,” the head of state said.
He added that aviation is important for airspace control and prompt response to threats. “We need unmanned drones, precision missiles (which we have already designed). We need to equip our special ops. If anyone dares to attack us, our forces would be able to act within the country which launches an attack on Belarus,” the president said.
The head of state noted that his orders to develop new types of weapons are carried out. A few months ago, a decision was made to get familiar with modern domestic weapons and military equipment after the country tackles some economic matters and finishes harvesting.
Alexander Lukashenko stressed that the military should be ready for warfare any time. “Since we fight no one and are not going to do this, we need to train. Otherwise we will have all kinds of weapons but will not know how to fight,” the head of state said. We need to develop both reconnaissance and strike UAVs.
The head of state was updated on the combat capability and main performance characteristics of the weapons on display. The Belarusian leader also watched an exhibition performance featuring military and special hardware.
