Air Force and Air Defense units destroy qualification targets as part of combat readiness inspection

MINSK, 11 March (BelTA) – The elimination of qualification targets is being practiced as part of the ongoing inspection of the Armed Forces authorized by the president, BelTA has learned.

State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Aleksandr Volfovich said: “Today as part of the surprise inspection of the Air Force and Air Defense Command we are evaluating how this branch of the Armed Forces can accomplish one of the most important tasks: the simulated repulsion of the adversary’s airborne weapons. A test involving qualification targets has been organized. The event plan that has been conveyed unexpectedly today to the leadership of the Air Force and Air Defense units, commanding officers of individual army units is very busy. We have made plans for a test involving qualification targets along 23 routes. All the airfields are used for takeoffs. Aviation assets of the Emergencies Ministry, [the Volunteer Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy] DOSAAF, the State Border Committee of Belarus, the Defense Ministry are employed. A total of over 60 training targets. They will be used to practice the elimination of the adversary’s airborne weapons. The test has just started. The first targets are already in the air. Decisions on them are being made. They are being tracked. They have been assigned corresponding numbers. Instructions are being given to air defense units to eliminate these targets. Actions of the inspected personnel are confident.” The official added that large drones have also been scrambled.

“Today the altitudes of the qualification targets vary from 25 to 6,000 meters. They are rather easy to detect at altitudes in excess of 1,000 meters but there are certain problems with detecting them at 25, 50, and 100 meters above the ground. Let’s see how the inspected personnel can handle these tasks,” Aleksandr Volfovich remarked.

The airspace is being monitored in the central command post of the Air Force and Air Defense Command. Its chief Sergei Babareka said that as part of the test the radio technology troops have to detect aerial targets, feed the data to the command post where the commanding officer makes decisions and assigns tasks to Air Force and Air Defense units to simulate their destruction. “The central command post is supposed to collect, summarize, and analyze information about the air situation and feed this information to the commanding officer for the sake of making a decision,” Sergei Babareka explained.

BelTA reported earlier that the large-scale inspection of the Armed Forces began on 16 January upon instructions from the Belarus president. The primary goal is to see an objective picture, the real state of the troops, and evaluate actions of the military personnel. This is why the events are sudden. The key peculiarity of the inspection is the way it is organized. The head of state puts military units on alert without involving the Defense Ministry and the General Staff.