Aerospace defense requirements in post‐Soviet Russia

Abstract

Throughout 1989–1991, the officer corps of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, the PVO, held a lengthy discussion of the missions and roles of air defense in a changing strategic environment. As a result of this discussion, the Soveit PVO mission was changed from one of broad perimeter defense to more limited missions of selective area and point defense against attacks from air and space. This change would require increased mobility and modernization; however, the demise of the Soviet Union and continuing economic disarray makes such a transition to a modernized air defense nearly impossible. It may be the desire to achieve such modernization that led the Russian government in January 1992 to seek cooperation with the United States in a “Global Protection System.”.