Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the Russian Federation's biggest concerns has been to replace the Soviet Union's unified aerial radar surveillance capacities.

The goal is closer because of a recent meeting of Commonwealth of Independent States in Minsk to integrate use of the Parol', or "Password," Unified System of State Radar Identification between CIS member states.

CIS member nations include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan is an unofficial associate member while Ukraine hasn't ratified the agreements and so is officially not a member.

The meetings concern the improvement and development of the CIS Joint Air Defense System.

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine met recently to upgrade the CIS-wide radar system at a Belarus air base. The delegates reviewed and approved a draft work plan the CIS Secretariat of Council of Defense Ministers to upgrade, organize and integrate the Parol' system, which will subsequently be sent to the defense ministries of the countries of the CIS for coordination, the Russian Ministry of Defense newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda reported Monday.

CIS Council of Defense Ministers Secretary Aleksandr Sinaisky, said, "The formation and development of various unified military systems have been some of the most important areas in the activities of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS.

"It should be mentioned that the Agreement on the Provision of Radar Identification of Objects Equipped with Parol' Aircraft Identification Systems was among the first documents approved by heads of the governments of the states in the post-Soviet zone in 1992. And this is logical since the reliable identification of aerial, ground-based, and sea-based objects is in integral component of the provision of reliable security for the borders of any state, not to mention the special capability of the system.

"Correspondingly, the following were elaborated and approved by the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS: Instructions for the identification of aerial, sea-based, and ground objects in the armed forces of the states-participants of the CIS; a training manual for the organization of the use of the Parol' system; and a technique for the preparation and conducting of evaluations of the equipment of the Parol' identification system."

Regarding upgrades to the Russian Federation's air defense upgrades, Russian air force Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin told journalists that Russia's S-500 air defense missile system, its most advanced, will shortly be deployed, commenting, "In the coming years, the Russian air force will be equipped with the latest S-500 and S-400 air defense missile systems.

"By 2020, we will have purchased a significant number of these systems. We are talking about five air defense missile regiments, with S-400 and S-500 systems in their arsenals, and about a quite large number of those systems. All of the plans that were proposed by us were reviewed and approved, since the development of air defense, aerospace defense, and missile defense is a priority in the construction of the armed forces of Russia."