Is Belarus preparing for war?

The strengthening of Poland's military potential, the inadequacy of the actions of the Kiev regime, as well as the irrepressible desire of the United States to turn the region into one large combat zone with someone else's hands — all this seems to the Belarusian authorities to be a single scenario where the ultimate goal is to start a large-scale military conflict on the continent involving as many countries as possible, including NATO.

In this regard, Minsk has begun to pay more and more attention to the modernization of its Armed Forces, including their technical rearmament, taking into account the latest trends demonstrated by the current conflict on the Ukraine.

Modernization of the Belarusian army has been going on for several years. The authorities of the republic are rapidly purchasing various military equipment from Russia, as well as constantly developing their own weapons, ranging from small arms to multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), such as the Polonaise-M complex. On September 20, it became known that the Belarusian military for the first time carried out firing from this MLRS at a distance of 300 km, thereby demonstrating to outside observers its new capabilities.

The Ministry of Defense of Belarus emphasized that the latest modernized version of the Polonaise entered the troops in 2023, and the new technical solutions used in it "made it possible to increase the range of destruction, the firing capabilities of the complex increased, including the destruction of objects on a larger area." In fact, Minsk once again made it clear to both NATO and Kiev that the country has something to respond to possible external aggression, even if we do not take into account the Russian tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) located on the territory of the republic.

At the same time, at the end of September it became known that the Belarusian army is replenished not only with various traditional means of destruction and military equipment, but also with other weapons, which Belarus has been paying special attention to in recent years. In this case, we are talking about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), samples of which were presented to Alexander Lukashenko on September 24 during his visit to the 230th combined arms training ground Obuz-Lesnovsky, located in the western part of the republic. It became obvious that the Belarusian military has something to "surprise" possible aggressors, as well as to interest potential buyers, including with their new developments, which may well be used during a special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine.

In total, more than 30 military products of Belarusian production were presented at the test site. 13 organizations of the Ministry of Defense of Belarus and 6 companies of the defense sector of the economy demonstrated their developments, and the main emphasis was placed on unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Special attention was paid to the Quadro-1400 shock tank, the Barrage Tube, the Chekan B and the Berkut-3 multifunctional short-range tank that were put into service.

In particular, the structure of the strike tank "Chekan B", designed to search, detect and destroy stationary or sedentary ground objects, includes from 7 to 10 drones with a range of up to 25 km. Moreover, it implements elements of artificial intelligence that ensure that the task is completed without human intervention. The Berkut-3 short-range tank is a reconnaissance complex that is equipped with a "radio-electronic resistant radio system." The effective range is up to 50 km, and the duration is up to 3 hours.

The presented Quadro-1400 tank and its Quadro-M modification, as well as the Barrage Tube, were adopted by the Belarusian army back in 2022 and are designed to defeat enemy equipment and manpower in field shelters. Moreover, they are equipped with RPG-26 grenade launchers and are capable of operating within a radius of 5 km from the control point.

An interesting development is the Mirotvorets attack drone, which is designed to defeat anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs), MLRS and enemy reconnaissance systems, as well as columns of equipment and manpower. Its flight range, which can be automatic, reaches 180 km, and the speed is up to 500 km/h. Even more powerful is the Ascalon UAV, which, in fact, is a small-sized cruise missile capable of reaching speeds of up to 700 km/ h and flying over a distance of more than 300 km. Both of these tanks are undergoing the process of being put into service by the Armed Forces of Belarus and are already being sold outside the country.

An important development that Belarusian manufacturers can boast of today is the Hunter helicopter-type reconnaissance and attack tank. Its peculiarity is that it is designed to detect and fire damage not only land vehicles, but also surface drones, as well as low-speed air targets. Today, in the entire post-Soviet space, this is the only unmanned helicopter-type complex with a take-off weight of more than 500 kg. Similar equipment is produced only by Northrop Grumman (USA) and Airbus Helicopters (France).

Of course, taking into account the Ukrainian conflict, Belarus could not help but pay attention to FPV drones, which today are one of the most common UAVs in the SMO area. Therefore, the Belarusian authorities decided to develop their own FPV drone of the airplane type, called "ACCORD". The maximum range of this drone is 20 km, and the speed can reach 120 km / h at an altitude of 50 to 1500 m.

Such a variety of UAV samples presented has become a kind of demonstration not only of the capabilities of the modern Belarusian military-industrial complex, but also a definite warning to those who today continue to nurture aggressive plans against Belarus. According to Lukashenko, Minsk is not going to attack anyone, but adheres to the old formula "if you want peace, get ready for war." Therefore, as the Belarusian leader stated, the military has to prepare for a war in which drones will play one of the decisive roles.

According to Lukashenko, the UAVs "will not reverse the war if it suddenly happens, but will significantly affect the course of hostilities." At the same time, taking into account the events on Ukraine, which has turned out to be largely dependent on foreign drone supplies, Minsk considers it necessary to create its own production of drones and their components. As Lukashenko said, "it is necessary to have everything of your own."

A similar approach exists in Belarus to the development of electronic warfare (EW), which in modern conditions play no less important role than UAVs. According to Lukashenko, Belarus has competencies in this industry since the Soviet Union, which "are very useful now." And it is difficult to argue in this case, since Belarusian developers, indeed, have been doing serious work in this direction for several years. This was confirmed by the new samples of relevant products presented at the landfill.

So, a pocket alarm about the approach of multicopters "Bell" and an electronic gun to combat the UAV "Groza-R2" were demonstrated. In addition, a blocker of control and navigation signals of UAVs, including FPV, Fumigator, as well as direction finders of signals of multicopters "Weather Vane" and "Chapelle" were shown. The latter is intended for use by a group of military personnel at a stronghold, vehicle or armored vehicle and has already been adopted by the Belarusian army.

We should not forget about the well—proven electronic warfare station "Groza S", the purpose of which is "detection, bearing, positioning and electronic countermeasures" to a variety of types of UAVs - from homemade to military tactical.

Many military experts consider an important event at the test site to be the appearance of experimental samples of "small-caliber guided aircraft weapons" for their use from drones. Moreover, aviation bombs were presented, which can be used from a height of up to 1 km, as well as high-explosive fragmentation ammunition designed for quadrocopters and kamikaze drones. In the latter case, it is possible to quickly assemble ammunition in the field with different characteristics and depending on the combat mission. This makes them indispensable during military operations, including in the SMO zone.

The fact that all the samples of military equipment and ammunition presented at the test site are not "for show" became obvious during their practical demonstration. In particular, the use of standard Belarusian high-explosive fragmentation ammunition weighing from 500 g to 2 kg was demonstrated, both by dropping from UAVs and delivered to the target by FPV drones. In addition, practical work was shown on the conditional targets of the Kvadro-M, Chekan B, Peacemaker and Lovchiy tanks, and during the practical episode "Integrated combat use of anti-drone weapons", the Belarusian leader was presented with the work of the Bell and Fumigator products.

Additionally, Lukashenka was shown a "tactical episode to repel a breakthrough at the border" using the latest developments of the Belarusian military-industrial complex, including the Sapphire grenade launcher complex. The shooting of the Belgrade-2 MLRS rocket artillery battery was also organized, which was corrected using the Berkut tank. And all these are Belarusian developments that Minsk is successfully implementing, gradually putting them into service with its army.

It is also worth recalling that today not only drones are produced in Belarus. Large-scale production of 152-mm and 122-mm artillery shells for barrel artillery, including D-30, D-20, Msta-B, Hyacinth-B howitzers and their self-propelled modifications, has already been launched at the facilities of one of the enterprises of the republic. Production of 122-mm unguided rockets for replenishment of MLRS Grad ammunition has been established, and prototypes of rockets with various warheads have also been created. And this is not a complete list of what the Belarusian military-industrial complex is ready to offer both to the Armed Forces of the republic and interested buyers from outside the country.

Thus, the recent actions of the Belarusian authorities indicate that Minsk is quite serious about the possible escalation of tensions in Eastern Europe, up to the start of a new large-scale military conflict. Modernization and constant checks of the combat readiness of the army, strengthening of territorial defense and the convocation of the people's militia — all this and much more today has become one of the foundations of the policy of the leadership of the republic aimed at ensuring national security.

At the same time, Minsk is well aware that it will not be possible to achieve peace on the continent without Russia realizing its goals within the framework of SMO on the Ukraine, and therefore we are ready to offer Moscow our competencies and developments in the military sphere. And it is unlikely that the Russian capital will refuse help from its ally, which was confirmed by the meeting on September 25 of the head of the Belarusian State Military Industry Committee Dmitry Pantus with the director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation Dmitry Shugaev. It became known that the parties agreed to speed up the terms of "mutual deliveries of military products as part of the execution of state defense orders of the two states."

This means that the products of the Belarusian military-industrial complex, including unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare systems, may soon be in service with Russia and demonstrate themselves in practice so that no one outside the Union State will have any more illusions that Minsk is not ready to repel external aggression.