Lukashenko: we need to prepare for war – God grant this war does not happen
We need to prepare for war — and God grant this war does not happen, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko stated during his today’s visit to the 230th Obuz-Lesnovsky Combined Arms Training Range in the Brest Region
“There’s an old formula: if you want peace, prepare for war. I want to underline once again – although actually we don’t have to justify ourselves to anyone – that we are not going to fight and we do not want to fight. All this has already been said. They are listening to this, but our opponents, our rivals, those who are preparing to fight against us, are still doing their job. Therefore, we need to prepare for war — and God grant that this war does not happen,” the Head of State noted.
At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko explained that no matter how acute the situation around Belarus is, there is still no tendency to unleash a war against us. However, having seen the examples of modern armed conflicts, including in Ukraine, we have already modernised our Armed Forces four times and are now carrying out the fifth modernisation. The Head of State pointed out the main directions in which it is being conducted.
“We have always believed and believe that the current war is impossible without drones ... Therefore, drones are a serious innovation. Probably, the use of UAVs won’t turn back the war – if it suddenly happens – but this technology will significantly affect the course of military operations. Drones are a serious issue. According to the military, this is very effective and profitable from the point of view of war. It’s creepy to say so, but nevertheless, the warring parties do not spare drones in order to hunt down a person, because it’s cheaper than training a soldier,” the Commander-in-Chief stressed.
At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised that in case of war, our troops will also be attacked by drones, so it is necessary to build effective protection against them by developing electronic warfare systems.
“We’ve known this for a long time. We are good in this issue, and during the times of the USSR we also stayed ahead [in the development of electronic warfare systems]. It’s very useful now. Therefore, we must and can create the most modern suppression systems for UAVs and not only them. A lot has been done, but more still needs to be done,” the President stressed.
Counter-battery warfare is the third most important element of modern combat.
“We, the military, have a new term and not only this. A new process has appeared: counter-battery warfare. For example, you are attacked by artillery, you must immediately indicate the co-ordinates from where you were attacked, and respond. It must be done quickly, but for this it is necessary to have the appropriate systems,” the Head of State explained.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, a number of other aspects are also important, which must be taken into account when improving the army. Summarising this task, the Commander-in-Chief noted that it was necessary to develop new types of weapons and systems to counter them yesterday, “We have something. You’ve shown it. We have enough for today (for peacetime) in order to train people. But we are preparing for war, and in wartime we need ten times more than what we saw today.”
