The Russian Ground Forces' Air Defense Force will become part of a united aerospace defense system, the Air Defense Force's chief has said.

"In the course of the creation of a united aerospace defense system, the Russian Ground Forces' Air Defense Force will become one of its most important parts which together with other aerospace defense elements will be responsible for air defense and non-strategic missile defense at infrastructure and military facilities and troop deployment sites," Major General Alexander Leonov told journalists in Moscow on Saturday.

The Russian Ground Forces' Air Defense Force includes such air defense systems as S-300, Buk (SA-11 Gadfly), Pantsir-S1 (SA-22 Greyhound), Top (SA-15 Gauntlet), Tunguska ( SA-19 Grison), Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher), and Shilka (Awl).

MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti)