The joint air defense system of the CIS member states is founded on the basis of the agreement of ten countries of the commonwealth, signed on February 10, 1995 in Almaty. Currently, it includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

Since the creation of the air defense system, 25 command and staff training sessions and more than ten joint exercises with combat shooting have been conducted. Since 1995, over a thousand military flights have been made. The regular exercise “Combat commonwealth” was held in September 2017 at Ashuluk training ground in Astrakhan region. 

Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee – Executive Secretary of the CIS Agybay Smagulov, representatives of the secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS member states, commanders of the Air Defense (Air Force and Air Defense, Air Defense Force) of the Republic Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan took part at the meeting of the Coordination Committee held at the Situation Center of the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan. 

The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan A.Azizov addressed the meeting of the Coordination Committee. He drew attention to the growing dynamism of development of military cooperation within the CIS with the enhancement of the coordinating role of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS member states, noted the important role of the Coordination Committee in strengthening security of the Commonwealth airspace. 

In accordance with the agenda of the meeting, issues related to improvement and development of the integrated air defense system, as well as strengthening bilateral and multilateral military cooperation of the CIS member states in the field of air defense, were considered.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Chairman of the Coordination Committee on Air Defense, Chief of the General Staff of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation P.Kurachenko. 

During the meeting, amendments were introduced to the composition of the Coordination Committee on Air Defense, activities of the Committee and its working bodies for 2017 were summed up. The plan for holding the joint computer command and staff exercise of the joint air defense system of the CIS member states “Regional Security – 2018” and the draft plan of implementation of the Concept of development of the Unified system of state radar identification were approved and other issues of the Coordination Committee’s activities were considered. 

Participants of the meeting of the Coordination Committee on Air Defense under the Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS member states at a briefing for the mass media noted with satisfaction that all the outlined issues were successfully considered.