Russian study tells how to win a modern war

Moscow, April 19 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A group of Russian independent military experts has published a comprehensive study of major military conflicts in the past two decades which could be used as a guide for success in modern wars.

According to the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily, the book compiled by experts from the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) analyses the causes and character of 11 military conflicts around the world that killed a million people.

The study, dubbed "Foreign Wars", concludes that a modern war could be won by "a complex and well-tuned military machine", which combines ground, air, sea and space components supported by advanced telecommunications technologies.

At the same time, even the best weaponry could be ineffective if it is used by poorly trained soldiers.

The most interesting articles in the compilation cover NATO's air campaign in Yugoslavia, US and NATO military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, military conflict in Lebanon in 2006 and the most recent Western coalition campaign in Libya.

The daily said the lessons of these conflicts prove that the use of air assets in all their variants is a key element of modern warfare, while solid air defences play a major role in thwarting enemy attacks.

The Russian experts believe that the deployment by Syria of even a small number of Russian-made advanced air defence systems, including Pantsir-M1 (SA-22) and Tor-M1 (SA-15), is preventing the West from repeating the so-called "Libyan scenario" in that country.

Rossiiskaya Gazeta said the study was a virtual guidebook for those involved in the development of the Russian Armed Forces and the strengthening of the country's defence capability.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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