BELARUS

[arturas]

Main battle tanks "Vityaz" will defend Belarus
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko reaffirmed Belarus' peaceful policy and resolution to defend national interests. The head of state made the statement at a session of the Security Council while discussing the Military Doctrine of Belarus on January 22. Alexander Lukashenko stressed that there are no direct military threats to Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko said that the analysis of the present-day situation requires adjustments to the country's national security approaches, including in the military sector.
In his words, last year the Defence Minister was tasked to explore all options of possible response with the use of force to contemporary threats taking into account the long-term forecast and reflect this in the new edition of the Military Doctrine, which was accomplished.
The military-political leadership of the country increased its activity in strengthening the combat power of the Belarusian army. The main efforts of the Ministry of Defence are focused on purchasing new weapons and military equipment, as well as on the modernization of existing ones.
And this process went far beyond the priorities outlined last year: the Air Force and Air Defense Forces, MTR and the development of UAVs. In order to increase the combat capabilities of units, the Ministry of Defence purchased new aircraft, upgraded radar systems and communications systems.
Now it is time for the tanks’ modernization. According to the plans of the military leadership of Belarus, specialists have already started to implement a phased modernization of all T-72B that are in service. T-72B – the main battle tank of the Belarusian army, numbers more than 400 tanks. Their modernization will allow bringing tank units to a new level.
Last year the 140th Repair Plant, one of the main enterprises of Belarus’ Goskomvoenprom, demonstrated its own program of deep modernization of T-72B - "Vityaz". Obviously, the modernization of the Belarusian tanks will be made in Belarus - it is much cheaper and more reliable. Moreover, it is known that the first tanks "Vityaz" left the assembly line, and were tested in the units in the course of combat training. They showed a very high efficiency.
What's new in the Belarusian version of T-72?
Belarusian defense industry has made fundamental changes in the fire control system. It is, first of all, the installation of modern fire control system with multi-channel gunner's sight "Sosna-U", automatic target tracking, PNK-4S-01 observation and sighting system. These changes allow the gunner to search and defeat the target using the cannon and coaxial machine gun in the "Double" regime at any time, in any weather.
In addition, the tank is enhanced by an anti-aircraft machine gun that allows to defeat more effectively the air and ground targets from the crew compartment of the tank at a distance of up to 1600 meters.
Combat capability and survivability of tank is significantly increased due to the use of new complex of active protection "Barrier" and dynamic protection "Knife".
"Vityaz" is also equipped with new digital radio stations R-181-50VU "Rhapsody" and navigation system (GLONASS/GPS). The ergonomic characteristics are also improved.
At the same time the modernization of the tanks is only partial, primarily due to the fact, that changes have not touched the engine, automatic loader and gun.
A somewhat different story is in using dynamic protection system "Knife" and active protection system "Barrier" of the Ukrainian production for "Vityaz". It may seem illogical, that Minsk, the closest ally of Moscow, uses the Ukrainian military technology against the background of extremely tense relations between Russia and Ukraine.
Probably, this approach was due to the overpriced Russian dynamic protection "Relic". At the same time, according to Ukrainian experts, Belarus-Ukrainian contract for the supply of dynamic protection involves subsequent transferring of production technology, which will significantly improve the capacity of the domestic defense industry and enhance its export potential.
As for the "Barrier", that was criticized by Russian experts, it should be said that the American experts who conducted their own study of the system, refuted their point of view. Moreover, Russia itself is developing a system of active protection "Afghanit", which is based on the same principles as the "Barrier".
It becomes clear that the military leadership of Belarus, taking the decision to modernize tanks T-72B, came primarily from the economic opportunities of the country, leaving aside political ambitions.

[ArmChairCivvy]

last year the Defence Minister was tasked to explore all options of possible response with the use of force to contemporary threats taking into account the long-term forecast and reflect this in the new edition of the Military Doctrine, which was accomplished.

Interestingly, since then the major exercise held was based on a scenario with unmarked green men popping up all over the country (East and West, equally).

The bellweather of how the future will pan out is going to be the traditionally joint Russian-Belorussian "West" exercise around September time. The permanent Russian presence involves
- https://www.google.fi/maps/@52.8324232, ... a=!3m1!1e3 a missile early-warning station, and
-The "Vileyka" VLF transmitter [that] is an important facility for transmitting orders to submarines in the very low frequency range.

Some people (first and foremost within Belorussia and in the immediate neighbour, Lithuania) have questioned the purpose of an 80-fold increase in the transportation capacity booked:
"According to the Belarusian media, back in 2015, the contract concerning the railway transportation to Belarus included 125 carriages, with only 50 carriages expected to be contracted in 2016. On the other hand, the same contract referring to the year 2017, includes transport services which are to involve 4126 carriages, more than 80-fold more, than this year. The comparison above makes one realize the scale of operations which are to be undertaken by the Russian forces, within the territory of Belarus, next year.

Russian Ministry of Defence calms the analysts down, informing that the transport operation is related to the “Zapad 2017” military exercise, regularly involving the armed forces of both nations. This time, as it was announced by Sergey Shoygu, at the beginning of November, “when the scenario concept for the exercise is being developed, the situation related to increased NATO activity at the border of the Union State is going to be taken into account”. However, the transport needs indicate that the Russian forces are going to deploy a number division-sized units, to take part in the operation.

Some Belarusian activists and members of the opposition suggest that exercise of so expansive scale would lead to permanent deployment of Russian military units within the territory of the country. They directly suggest that some of the forces of the 1st Guards Tank Army formed back in 2014, stationed within the area of the Western Military District, would be deployed to Belarus. The newly formed Army-sized element is tasked, as the Russian MoD suggests, with protecting Moscow from a threat posed by Baltic States, Finland and Belarus’s neighbours. The said unit continues the traditions of the 1st Guards Tank Army which, during the Cold War, was stationed in East Germany and which was disbanded in 1998."

http://www.defence24.com/500156,major-d ... itary-base

[ArmChairCivvy]

As the script for Zapad 17 has been released, some Belorussians have decided to live it to the full, in the alternative Twitter universe (following the example from the other side of the Pond: if you repeat it often enough, vary it enough - to give it some colour, then "it" will start to look real):
https://medium.com/dfrlab/zapadwatch-vi ... b75195a2cb

[ArmChairCivvy]

After the Mig vs Ryanair incident, it is unclear WHETHER the UN SC closed -doors session
N Security Council to hold 'closed door' meeting on Belarus ...
https://ca.news.yahoo.com › belarus-arrests-journalist-r...
2 days ago — Belarus arrests journalist Roman Pratasevich after diverting Ryanair flight ... UN Security Council to hold 'closed door' meeting on Belarus plane diversion

OR the call the 'see the boss, for a quiet word' will be the decisive moment. On the latter, the BBC says:

"The leader of Belarus spoke publicly on Wednesday to defend his actions, insisting that the bomb threat was real and that the diversion of the Ryanair flight had taken place near a nuclear power plant.

[...]

Shortly afterwards, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Belarus' position.

"The Kremlin sees no reason not to trust statements from the leadership of Belarus," Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.

He added [ ] that the two leaders would hold talks in the Russian city of Sochi on Friday."

[ArmChairCivvy]

While the two leaders talk (for an extra day) there is also talk about how to make Belorus embassies a focal point of anyone going in or out having to wear the 'shame':
"EU countries are being urged to join a campaign taking root in Romania's capital to rename streets outside Belarusian embassies after the dissident journalist Roman Protasevich."