MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Space Troops will regard development of the information component of missile and space defense as one of its priorities, the Space Troops press service said on Friday.
"The Space Troops Command is planning to ensure priority development of the information component of missile and space defense, including early warning, air defense and space control systems," a press service official told Interfax-Military News Agency.
According to him, Space Troops Commander Anatoly Perminov believes that further development of the space sector of the missile attack early warning system is related to the creation of the Single Space System, for its deployment will bring Russian space exploration up to a new level.
"The ground echelon will be modernized with the help of new- generation systems. These are so-called advanced factory readiness systems. We are to put the first stations on duty within three to four years," Perminov said.
The press service official noted that the Command's plans provide for developing the ground echelon of the missile attack early warning system with due regard to the potential capability of several Gulf nations to come up with up-to-date missiles in the immediate future.
"These programs should not go out of our sight. We should not neglect control over missile programs of North Korea and China either. We detected and tracked the latest undeclared launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in December 2002," Perminov said.
Moreover, work will continue to develop specialized space control assets.
"Space is already quite crowded. That is why reliable data on the space situation is badly needed," the press service official quoted Perminov as saying.