Already by December 1, 2011, a completely new branch of the military should appear in Russia - the Aerospace Defense (VKO). This was announced by Viktor Ozerov, head of the Federation Council Committee on Security and Defense. Commander of the Space Forces Oleg Ostapenko spoke to the senators with information about the process of creating the Aerospace Defense.
It must be admitted that it became known much earlier about the plans to create a modern Russian aerospace defense exactly by the date of December 1, 2011. At the end of last year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev instructed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to unite space attack warning, air defense, missile defense and space control troops under a single strategic command by the specified date. Simultaneously with the news of such an order, a real struggle unfolded in the Ministry of Defense for who will be appointed in charge of this department. It is quite possible to understand military officials: we are talking not so much about such lofty matters as the security of the state, but also about the purely prose of life - budgetary funds and new generals' stripes.
The Air Force representatives were sure that they were the only organizers of the association. After all, everything related to airspace is their prerogative. In addition, the main air defense assets are subordinate to them. Representatives of the space forces insisted on their own primacy, pointing out that in the wars of the future, according to experts, the main threat will come from transatmospheric (space) orbits, and only they are professionals in this matter. Obviously, the arguments of the latter seemed to the president the most convincing. Confirmation of this is the presentation of a report to the senators by the commander of the Space Forces.
It will not be superfluous to note that a lot has been done for a long time to create a completely new system of aerospace defense in our state. By the beginning of the 1990s, the USSR's military space program was ahead of the American one in many respects. The Soviet Union possessed twice as many types of spacecraft and conducted five times more test and targeted space launches than the United States. The USSR was the only state in the world that possessed a permanent orbiting space station and conducted military experiments on it. The Soviet Union also had the world's first ground-based system capable of destroying satellites in extremely low orbits. According to the Air Force Space Coomand, the USSR, and later Russia, conducted 38 tests of complexes for the destruction of enemy satellites - most of them were successful.
The Russian missile defense system has long been established and is operating - this is also that little in which Russia is ahead of the West. In Russia, the national missile defense complex has been operating for several decades. It consists of two echelons. Called A-135, it provides air cover for the Central Industrial Region and the capital, Moscow. From 1978 to 1987, up to 100 thousand military builders were simultaneously involved in its creation. The complex consists of several individual components. This is a huge system, in fact, a system of control over outer space, a system for preventing a space attack, missile defense.
The basis of this huge structure is the 3rd separate special-purpose army of the rocket and space defense, which is part of the space forces (the headquarters is located in Solnechnogorsk, Moscow region). In service - firing complexes in the form of mine rechargeable reusable anti-missile launchers of the type - 51T6 and 53T6. Some of them are installed along the Moscow Ring Road. These weapons can intercept and destroy enemy ballistic missiles and their warheads, which fly at altitudes of 5 km. to near space at a speed of up to 6-7 kilometers per second. It should be noted that the 53T6 anti-missile missiles are equipped with nuclear warheads. If they are blown up in space, according to experts, up to 10% of the population of Moscow can instantly die, an electromagnetic pulse will disable all the region's power systems, combat control channels and wire communication lines. But still, this is a much less striking effect in comparison with what would have been if a nuclear warhead of an adversary's ballistic intercontinental missile directly fell on Moscow.
The space echelon of the missile attack detection and warning system created in Russia consists of three satellites of the "Kosmos" type. True, there is one subtlety in their use - they are constantly monitoring only the territory of the United States and are not able to detect the start of a ballistic missile in other regions of the planet. However, as a safety net, the early warning system also includes a ground echelon, consisting of radar stations in Balkhash (Kazakhstan), Baranovichi (Belarus), Mishelevka, Olenegorsk, Pechora, Gabala (Azerbaijan). In the last two years, they have been supplemented by the new Voronezh-M radar stations in Armavir and Lekhtusi.
The third, no less important component of space protection is the outer space control system. Near space is being watched by the Okno optoelectronic complex and specialized radar stations in Nurek (Tajikistan).
There are many reasons for the creation and improvement of such complexes. How modern wars are waged, the whole world has clearly seen on the examples of Iraq and Yugoslavia. For example, the Americans bombed Iraq for six weeks from the air and launched missile strikes. Only after the destruction of the air defense and command and control systems were the ground units put into action. They only had to take control of the territory of the state, it took exactly 100 hours. Today, something similar is happening in Libya. With a slight adjustment for the weakness of the armed forces of this state and the uncertainty about the future of the invasion of ground forces of NATO forces.
How opponents will be dealt with in the 21st century is illustrated by the following fact. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the United States has actively begun work on the creation of completely new hypersonic bombers that can strike from the limits of near space, where existing air defense systems simply cannot reach. Such machines will be able to take off from the territory of the United States and literally within two hours reach the point of strike anywhere in the world, which is located at a distance of up to 16,700 kilometers from the base.
At the moment, only a preliminary specification of the new superbombers is known. The cruising flight speed is at least 5-7 M (at least 5-7 times faster than the speed of sound). As a comparison, the maximum cruising speed of modern fighters does not exceed 3-3.5 M, and to achieve it, the use of an extreme engine operating mode is required. The future American bomber, as conceived by the creators, will be able to maintain hypersonic cruising speed throughout the entire flight time at an altitude of more than 30 kilometers. Its combat payload will be 5, 5 thousand kilograms.
According to preliminary calculations of the Pentagon, new hypersonic superbombers will enter service with the US Air Force no earlier than 2025. Of course, there is still time, but today it is necessary to think about what to counter a very real threat.
According to the Russian military, the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system is capable of striking targets in near space. The first such complexes were adopted by Russian air defense systems back in 2007. Promises are encouraging that the Almaz-Antey concern is at the final stage of developing an even more advanced S-500 complex. According to plans, he should enter the troops by 2015.
