Belarus will equip a second missile battery with Russian Tor-M2 (SA-15 Gauntlet) air defense systems before the end of the current year, Defense Minister Yury Zhdobin said on Tuesday.

Belarus will have a full-size missile-defense battalion with Tor-M2 systems by late 2013, he said.

The first Tor-M2 battery was delivered at the end of 2011.

The Russian missiles are being deployed in the 120th Missile Brigade in western Belarus.

The Tor-M2 is a low to medium-altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for intercepting aircraft, cruise missiles, precision guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic targets.