SAMARKAND, April 12. /TASS/. The unified air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States is now being actively adapted for aerospace defense missions, according to Major General Yury Dashkin, a secretary of the CIS Defense Ministers Council.

He made the statement at the 56th meeting of the Air Defense Coordination Committee of the CIS Defense Ministers Council.

Dashkin said that, in the fundamentally new military and political conditions faced by the CIS countries, military cooperation within the CIS format is currently of particular importance and represents a unique international platform.

"The requirements for the effective functioning of all joint military systems are increasing. In many respects, these requirements are due to the rapid changes in the forms and methods of modern warfare. The Air Defense Coordination Committee responds promptly to changes in the situation. <... > Today, the committee is carrying out comprehensive work in implementing the primary objectives for the adaptation of the Commonwealth’s regional air defense system so as to address aerospace defense issues," Dashkin said.

The fast-paced development of cooperation among the CIS member countries was also noted by Shukhrat Kholmukhamedov, Chief of the General Staff of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Defense.

"In the context of increasing global challenges and threats to security, the complex ambiguity of geopolitical processes in the world, and the exacerbation of conflicts among nations, carrying out this event is very much needed," he said.

Kholmukhamedov also added that the very content of warfare, which is grounded in diverse types of forces and means of air attack of all basing types, is now undergoing fundamental change.

"That’s why, in building up their armed forces, the world’s leading powers are showing a steady tendency to prioritize the development of the air force and air defense troops," he said.

Delegations from the defense ministries of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, the Secretariat of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member states, the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, the military-industrial complexes of Russia and Uzbekistan, and key CIS-based organizations engaged in air defense-related R&D and training of military personnel took part in the work of the Coordination Committee on April 12 in Samarkand.