Joint air defense system with Russia to improve Kazakhstan's defense capacity

A joint air defense system with Russia will improve Kazakhstan’s defense capacity, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Defense Minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov. “The joint air defense system is one of the most effective forms of interaction between the armed forces of CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. Creating the joint air defense system with Russia will allow to improve the defense capacity of our army, its combat capacities and will become a basis for interaction with our colleagues,” the Ministry’s press-service cites Dzhaksybekov as saying at the meeting of the Defense Ministers Council of CIS countries in Moscow. The plan is to hold joint drills at local and permanent dislocations of the divisions, including at Ashuluk training site in Russia and Sryshagan training site in Kazakhstan in August-September 2013. The drill will be held to train in practical air defense. The CIS Defense Ministers discussed interaction and joint drills and the armed forces’ events next year. The Defense Ministers Council also considered amending a agreement on the use of the military satellite systems and their further improvement dated March 12, 1993.