MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - A group of former Soviet republics will conduct air-defense exercises as part of an integrated air-defense system, a senior air force official said Monday.
Lieutenant General Aitech Bizhev, deputy commander of the Russian Air Force, said the exercises would start April 25 as part of the joint event program of the Integrated Air Defense System of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
"The exercise will focus on how to improve CIS airspace, including through intercepting an aircraft that has violated the airspace, escorting away a plane that has lost its way and dealing with a plane hijacked by terrorists," he said
Bizhev said air force and air defense units from eight CIS-member states - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan - would conduct training involving over 80 tactical and strategic aircraft and helicopters, as well as other high-tech equipment.
The CIS Integrated Air Defense System comprises Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. Georgia recently pulled out of the CIS Defense Ministers Council, but is still formally part of the air-defense system.
The integrated system was set up by 10 CIS states on February 10, 1995.
