MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax-AVN) - A Joint Strategic Air and Space Defense Command has been created for the first time in the Russian Armed Forces, a source with the Russian General Staff told Interfax on Friday.
"The new military command body is using the base of the special purpose command [formerly Moscow air force and air defense district] which was disbanded on July 1, as well as a number of other structures of the Air Force and the Space Forces," the source said.
The Joint Strategic Air and Space Defense Command is expected to be formed by the year's end, its headquarters will be located near Balashikha, Moscow region where the headquarters of the 1st air defense corps was previously located, he said.
All main air, missile and space defense troops and forces were subordinated to the joint strategic command, he said. The Joint Strategic Air and Space Defense Command will be under the general command of the Russian General Staff, the source said.
The reconnaissance and warning systems of an air or space attack, as well as systems of suppressing offensive air and space capabilities of foreign states, will be based on units of the air force, air, missile and space defense, which are a part of the Space Forces.
The general course of creating an integrated system for suppressing offensive air and space capabilities of foreign states should make air defense systems capable of countering cruise missiles and hypersonic targets.