Russian base in Tajikistan to be fitted with Pole-21 electronic countermeasures system

The means of electronic warfare at the disposal of the 201st Russian Military Base in Tajikistan will for the first time be reinforced by the state-of-the-art radio jamming system Pole-21. This news was shared by the website Sputnik, citing the press service of the Central Military District (CMD) of the Russian Federation. The first set of technical equipment will be delivered by military aircraft to the Hisor airbase by the end of this year.

The electromagnetic interference system Pole-21 is designed to defend strategically important objects from cruise missiles, drones and guided bombs by jamming the signals transmitted via GPS and radio navigation systems. The equipment allows the deployment within the coverage zone of hundreds of individual interference posts. The system is well adapted to a variety of climatic conditions and functions in a wide range of low and high temperatures.

“The Pole-21 complex, in combination with other existing means of electronic warfare, Zhitel, Silok and Lesochek, will significantly increase the defensive cover of Russian military installations from the use of UAVs, from methods of electronic signals intelligence, and from precision-guided munition,” stated the CMD press office.

At the end of October this year, the military base in Tajikistan received the first anti-aircraft system S-300 Favorit. Its task will be the protection of the installations at the 201st military base from airborne attack, as well as the anti-aircraft defence of the Central Asian region together with the Tajik armed forces. Prior to this, among the countries of the region only Kazakhstan was in possession of such a system.

More on the subject in Russian: S-300 system transferred to Russian base in Tajikistan

The 201st Russian Military Base is the largest Russian military installation located outside of the Russian Federation. The base was set up at the start of the 2000s, building on the 201st Motor Rifle Division which has been stationed in the republic since Soviet times and employs around 6,500 military personnel quartered in garrisons in the cities of Dushanbe and Bokhtar (formerly Qurghonteppa). In accordance with an agreement signed in October 2012, the military base will remain in Tajikistan until at least 2042.