MOSCOW, May 4 (Itar-Tass) —— The development of the subsystem for intelligence and warning of an aerospace attack is a priority for the aerospace defense forces, Lieutenant-General Oleg Ostapenko, the commander of the aerospace defense forces, said on Thursday.
“The point of the matter is the creation of a new comprehensive system, not just perfection of the widely known system of warning of a strategic ballistic missile attack,” he explained. “The new system is created on the basis of integration of the existing information systems and weapons of land, sea, air and space basing and deployment of those to be created in order to guarantee the discovery of any existing and envisaged kinds of aerospace attack,” he said. “Given this subsystem, the aerospace forces can do much for deterrence by guaranteed warning of the state’s leaders about the start of an aggression and ensurance of the required steadfastness of the state’s strategic facilities,” Ostapenko said.
The aerospace forces went on combat duty as of December 1, 2011. “Their creation is the initial step toward functional integration of forces and weapons of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to ensure security of the state in the aerospace sphere,” the commander said. “The work for the development of the aerospace defense system amounts to defensive measures prompted by the need of an adequate answer to challenges and threats of the present,” he said.