Posted:
16.02.2022 17:46:00
External aggression will be resisted
What is the purpose of the West escalating the situation near our borders and what will be the response of Belarus and Russia
On February 10th, the joint Belarusian-Russian exercises Allied Resolve 2022 started in our country. They will last until February 20th and will be the culmination of the test of the regional response force of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, which began in mid-January. What is the peculiarity of these manoeuvres, what forces and means are involved in them, and what do the military and experts think about these exercises?
Our army is compact, manoeuvrable, combat-ready. We will strengthen its power. Rocket production, the creation of unmanned aircraft, small arms and ammunition, modern means of communication and automation, military optics, and other products of the Belarusian military industry have already been produced en masse. We will buy the missing because this is especially important amid current events.
(From the Address to Belarusian People and the National Assembly, January 28th, 2022)
Tensions simmer
What has been happening in recent months on the western and southern borders of Belarus defies any explanation. The aggression of the US and its satellites in Western and Eastern Europe is off the scale. According to the latest data, more than 30 thousand military personnel are concentrated in Poland and the Baltic countries near the Belarusian borders. And this is not the limit.Recently, the United States began the transfer of additional troops to Europe. Earlier, the Pentagon announced its readiness to send about 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania and about 2,000 more to Poland.
Near the borders of the Union State, flights of NATO strategic bombers have become more frequent, and these are not one-off incidents. Up to 30 such flights are recorded daily. According to experts, this means that the NATO Air Force is testing the potential use of cruise missiles, including those with nuclear warheads.
There are already talks of the deployment of nuclear weapons carriers in neighbouring states.
Overseas eagles and their accomplices in Europe frighten people with mythical threats from the East. And under this pretext, an accelerated militarisation of the region is being carried out. They have especially succeeded in Ukraine, where they have already delivered more than a thousand (!) tonnes of weapons. The country is deliberately dragged into the NATO hornet’s nest under loud statements about Russia’s allegedly impending invasion of Ukrainian territory.
They organised a special operation Polesie on the sly in Ukraine, moving up to 10 thousand military personnel to the Belarusian borders. Moreover, Kyiv shamelessly arranges extreme provocations against our country. The incident with the Ukrainian recon drone that violated the state border on January 24th and was performing a flight mission in the area of the Brestsky training ground was the third since November 2021.
Chief of the General Staff of Belarusian Armed Forces, First Deputy Defence Minister Viktor Gulevich:
In the course of working out the scenario of the readiness test we took into account an analysis of the events, which happened around our country in 2020. We took into account all the unfriendly messages and the unjustified concentration of troops as well as the development of the crisis situation in Kazakhstan. The recent events in Kazakhstan demonstrated the increased role of collective military and political unions in ensuring the national security of countries. The exercise, which will be held as part of the test, will be purely defensive and will present no threat to the European community as a whole and to neighbouring countries in particular. It will allow improving the procedure for jointly using the defensive infrastructure in practice and will allow checking the readiness and the ability of designated forces to carry out missions.
Military exercises Allied Resolve 2022
Date
from February 10th to 20th
Training grounds: Obuz-Lesnovsky, Osipovichsky, Brestsky, Gozhsky and Domanovsky
Airfields: Baranovichi, Luninets, Lida, and Machulishchi
The exercise will drill
• reinforcing state border sections in potential areas of illegal penetration of armed groups into Belarus
• shutting down channels of the supply of arms, munitions,
and other means that can be used to destabilise the situation in the country
• special issues of post-conflict settlement
Participate in exercises
Military equipment involved in the Allied Resolve 2022 exercises
Dozens of types of modern military equipment are used in manoeuvres on the territory of Belarus. Let’s talk about some of them.
An anti-aircraft missile system of a new generation was created on the basis of the existing Russian S-300 systems, while the tactical and technical capabilities have been significantly improved. It is outwardly similar to the previous model so that the enemy could not recognise which system was opposing it. The S-400 air defence system is capable of effectively hitting strategic and tactical aircraft, ballistic missiles flying at speeds up to 4.8 km/s at various altitudes, and other air attack weapons at ranges up to 400 km. This system has no analogues in the world today.
Its distinctive features are a new avionics complex based on the OLS-35 infra-red search and track system. The new radar station is capable of detecting targets at a distance of up to 400 km and tracking up to 30 air targets simultaneously. The aircraft also received new engines with increased thrust, a rotary thrust vector, and is capable of speeds up to 2,500 km/h. The Su-35S aircraft can carry air-to-air and air-to-surface guided missiles, unguided rockets, and aerial bombs of various calibres. Flight range — 3,600 km.
Su-30SM aircraft
The most modern and powerful combat aircraft in the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defence Forces. Supermanoeuvrability is the main distinguishing feature of the Su-30SM, which is capable of performing impossible turns and literally hovering in the air. A powerful radar allows it to simultaneously track 15 or more air targets and is also capable of detecting stealth aircraft of the fifth generation.
Polonez Multiple Launch Rocket System
This multiple launch rocket system is the pride of the Belarusian military-industrial complex. Polonez can hit troops and armoured vehicles with high accuracy at a distance of up to 300 km. The power of this weapon is really impressive. A battery of six combat vehicles is capable of hitting 48 targets in less than a minute. A few states have similar complexes, in particular Russia, China, the USA, and Israel.
Pantsir-S missile-artillery system
This anti-aircraft missile and the gun system are designed for air defence of small-sized military, including mobile, and administrative-industrial facilities and areas from aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and high-precision weapons, as well as to strengthen air defence groups when repulsing massive strikes means of air attack. Each combat vehicle can carry up to 12 anti-aircraft missiles with a range of up to 20 km. NATO recognised Pantsir-S as the best system against drones.
Tor missile system
The Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile system is designed for air defence of military and government facilities from attacks by aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, anti-radar, and other guided missiles, glide and guided bombs, and unmanned aerial vehicles, within the engagement range of the complex day and night in a complex meteorological and interference conditions. One battery of missile systems can simultaneously track up to 48 targets flying at a speed of 600 m/s at an altitude of up to 10 km.
BTR-82А
The latest armoured personnel carriers are distinguished by the increased power of weapons and propulsion system, modern means of communication. BTR-82A is capable of destroying ground targets at ranges up to 3,600 m, low-flying air targets (helicopters, drones) — at altitudes up to 2,000 m. Maximum speed on the highway — 80 km/h, afloat — 9 km/h.
Т-72B3 tank
The upgraded vehicles are equipped with a more powerful engine of 1,130 horsepower, as well as an improved weapon system. The tank received a new 125-mm cannon with increased barrel survivability, a new VHF radio station, and a new Sosna-U multi-channel gunner’s sight of the Belarusian production of Peleng OJSC. The changes also affected the armour of the tank, which is reinforced with side hull screens with a set of removable modular protection. The new guided weapon system guarantees a high probability of destroying a target from a standstill and on the move at a distance of up to 5 km.
By Yevgeny Kononovich
