Russian Air Force after Georgia, part 5

War in Georgia and more money for Glonass

Believe it or not, the first program that received a boost following the war in Georgia is Russia's Global Satellite Navigation System, the Glonass.

On 25 August Vladimir Putin signed one more Russian government order allocating additional funds for the project. These will go to increase the constellation from the previously planned 24 to 30 Glonass-M satellites, and development of next-generation Glonass-K. In practical terms, the move doubles annual spending on the project.

This new Russian government order was expected since March 2008. But the Kremlin hesitated. Yet, Putin signed the document the day after meeting the crewmembers of the downed Tu-22M3-R. A coincidence? Not likely.

Colonel Igor Zinov may have found the right words to explain the need of the Russian air force in the means of accurate navigation. Perhaps he told Georgian TV the truth when stating he had to perform a second pass over Gori to ensure the Tupolev was right on the designated target. Had the aircraft been equipped with Glonass navigation system, this would have been unnecessary.

The new Russian government order on the Glonass calls for allocation of additional money on development of the next-generation Glonass-K satellites.

In addition to the primary navigation function, these will also be used for secured communications and other purposes. That will help serve another acute problem of the Russian armed forces, namely shortage of modern means of communications and secured lines of data exchange.

Russian servicemen did not hide their impression about the means of communications found in the abandoned bases of the Georgian army.