August 30, 2007
Russia pursues reassertive security policy
Russia's
annual aerospace show, MAKS, allowed the country to present its
military offerings while turning the focus to its new proactive stance
in the face of a US missile shield in its backyard.
Image: Leonid V Kroujkov, FlickrBy Sergei Blagov in Moscow for ISN Security Watch (29/08/07)
The
8th Moscow International Aerospace Show (MAKS) not only gave Russia the
chance to commemorate the return of its nuclear bombers to the skies
and promote Russian arms exports. It also highlighted Moscow's move to
reassert its security policy.
In his speech at the conference,
which was attended by national and foreign organizations, President
Vladimir Putin urged Russia to sustain what he described as its
leadership in military aircraft production, relying on the country's
renewed economic might.
In an apparent bid to boost Russia's
arms export, MAKS 2007 showcased the country's advanced weapons,
including the MiG-35 fighters and the Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers. At
the show, Sergei Chemezov, head of Russia's state arms export monopoly
Rosoboronexport, announced Russia's total volume of arms exports would
reach US$6.5 billion this year, of which aircraft exports could amount
to US$3 billion.
The company said that it had already signed
contracts worth US$2.5 billion this year for military aircraft and that
it was supplying the air forces of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia
and Venezuela. Indonesia signed an agreement at the air show to
purchase six Sukhoi fighters valued at some US$330 million,
Rosoboronexport said, adding that talks were held to deliver aircraft
to Libya, Algeria and Egypt.
MAKS 2007 followed Putin's
announcement earlier in August that Russia was restarting long-range
flights of its strategic bombers. On 17 August, Putin declared that he
had decided to resume regular flights of the Russian Tu-160 and Tu-95MC
bombers over Atlantic and Pacific waters.
Also at the show,
the Tupolev plant announced plans to modernize all Russian strategic
bombers: Tu-160, Tu-95MC and Tu-22. Simultaneously, Russian officials
indicated plans to renew production of Tu-160 and Tu-95MC.
In
the meantime, the Kremlin was careful to avoid overplaying itst
decision to send long-range bombers well beyond the country's
frontiers. On 23 August, first deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said
Russia's resumption of the strategic bombers' long-range flights did
not represent a return to the Cold War. Two days earlier, General
Anatoly Zhikharev, deputy air force commander, announced that the
bombers would fly without nuclear weapons on board, adding there was
nothing "aggressive" in these flights.
Even with pledges as
such, the resumption of the strategic bombers' long-range missions has
been understood by some observers as yet another sign of Russia's
displeasure with the US' plans to deploy elements of the anti-missile
shields in the Czech Republic and Poland. In response, Moscow
threatened countermeasures, including plans to deploy its own missiles
in the country's Western Kaliningrad region to target US strategic
nuclear sites in Europe.
Washington has tried to reassure
Moscow that the system is meant to defend against Iran's potential to
develop long-range ballistic missiles, but to no avail. Russia's
frustration appears to have materialized in a number of moves,
including resumption of the bomber flights.
Russian officials also took the opportunity at MAKS to voice their security grievances again.
"US
missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe pose a direct threat to
Russia," General Vladimir Popovkin, commander of the Russian Space
Forces, declared at the air show. "Countermeasures will become
inevitable," he said according to reports and pledged to start testing
a new early warning spacecraft by 2009.
Some possible
countermeasures could include the Reutov NPO Machine Building's promise
to continue development of a new generation of liquid-fuel strategic
missiles. The Reutov plant also presented its Meteorit-A supersonic
cruise missile, a project originally developed in the 1980s but shut
down following disarmament treaties with the US. However, the plant
claimed the Meteorit-A still remained viable due to its unique
features.
Moscow has been pursuing reassertive security
policies since early this year, including boosting the country's armed
forces. In February 2007, the Kremlin said that Russia's weapons
modernization program for 2007-2015 would cost nearly US$200 billion.
The program involves the deployment of 34 new silo-based Topol-M
missiles and another 50 mounted on mobile launchers.
On 22
August, Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov traveled to the
Teikovo division of the country's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), where
Russia's first regiment of Topol-M mobile launcher-mounted missiles was
deployed in December 2006. On 24 August, the SMF reiterated that three
additional mobile launchers would be deployed at Teikovo by the end of
2007. The SMF's statement described Topol-M missiles as a unique weapon
system, which "guarantees inevitable nuclear retaliation to any
aggressor."
However, even with these announcements, Moscow
still appeared keen not to antagonize Washington. In an apparent
goodwill gesture, Russia invited US delegation headed by William
Hobbins, commander of US air forces in Europe, to attend the aerospace
show.
In what could be seen as a sign of cautious optimism, Hobbins accepted.
موضوع: السوخوى فى مصر ؟؟؟؟ 
الجمعة 5 أكتوبر 2007 - 20:17
