The Military-Industrial Commission, which answers directly to the Russian president, meets today to consider prospects for the fifth-generation air-defense system and building aerospace defenses in the country.
"We will discuss today the prospects for the fifth-generation [missile system] project that would include not only air defense capability, but also elements of missile and space defenses," said Sergei Ivanov, who heads the commission and is charged with the supervision of the country's defense industry.
"It must be an integrated system combining weapons, information and fire control elements," he said, addressing the participants of the meeting.
Ivanov said a new weapons design bureau could be established at the Almaz-Antei air defense consortium to lead the development of a new missile system that would ensure the security of the Russian airspace and, possibly, of the country's future space exploration effort.
Almaz-Antei, one of Russia's largest defense-industry holdings, specializes in the development of air defense missile systems and is famous for its S-300, Pechora-2A, Buk-M1 and Tor-M1 ground-to-air missile systems.
Ivanov said new S-400 missile systems, developed by the company, were adopted for service in late 2006 and the first regiment equipped with these systems will be placed on combat duty in mid-2007 near Moscow.
"It is a unique system that has no parallels [in the world]," he said.
