Russian Defense Official Says Upgraded National Missile Alert System Almost Complete

Russia has completed reconfiguring its land-based missile attack warning system and has patched up all gaps left after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Igor Morozov, deputy chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, said Saturday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2019) Russia has completed reconfiguring its land-based missile attack warning system and has patched up all gaps left after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Igor Morozov, deputy chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, said Saturday.

"Last year we set up three radars for combat duty in Yeniseysk, Barnaul and Orsk, thus completing the peripheral radar field which had holes in it as some of its elements ended up in other independent countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some of these were dismantled and we had to build from scratch to a certain extent," Morozov said in a program broadcast by Echo of Moscow radio.

According to the general, there was still some work left to do replacing old radars at some facilities. Two or three years were still required to replace two obsolete radars, but work on elaborating data processing algorithms would continue indefinitely, the defense official explained, stressing the importance of this work in light of uncertainty around the INF Treaty.

"This strategic system has been in special focus for the government and the Defense Ministry in recent years," he said.

Earlier in February, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo announced that the United States had suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty and triggered the six month withdrawal process unless Russia comes back into compliance with the pact. The following day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had suspended its participation in the treaty in response to the US actions. However, he stressed that all Russia's proposals remained on the table.