According to Defence Minister Anatoli Serdiukov, Russia's 8-year rearmament programme includes an appropriate response to the American plan to deploy missile defenses in European countries. Although salaries for members of the armed forces are rising fast, Russia will continue to rely on conscription in coming years, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in an interview with the newsweekly Itogi to be published on Monday.

Serdyukov touted the fact that commanders of Russia's Pacific Fleet nuclear ballistic missile submarines will earn more than he does beginning on January 1.

"If [the sub commander] is serving in Kamchatka, for example, I think his pay will be higher," he said.

Beginning on January 1, 2013, compensation for service members will include base pay and incentive pay, incorporating length of service and other factors.

"This is not going to be small change. This will be real money," Serdyukov said.

Russia substantially raised military pay for officers earlier this year. For example, a lieutenant now receives 50,000 rubles ($1,600) a month on average, he said.

But Russia will not do away with the draft any time soon.

"An entirely professional army is optimal in my view," Serdyukov said.

"But we cannot afford it for the foreseeable future," he said, adding that for now the armed forces will include a mix of professionals serving under enlistment contracts and draftees.

Contract service members will be used in units designated for the highest degree of readiness and those that employ complex and expensive technologies.

"In the navy, the strategic rocket forces and aerospace defense, practically all those military specialties," Serdyukov said.

The current armed forces reform plan calls for reducing the total number of service members to 1 million people from 1.2 million by the end of 2012. The officer ranks will be trimmed to 220,000 from 350,000

The number of contract service members is targeted to increase by about 50,000 a year, to 240,000 at the end of 2013, 295,000 in 2014, 350,000 in 2015, 400,000 in 2016 and 425,000 in 2017, when they will account for almost half of all military personnel.

The Defense Ministry has so far established 66 contract recruiting centers throughout Russia.

Israel deploys Patriot missiles to prevent interference in air space
Tel Aviv (RIA) The Israeli Defense Force (IDF), has deployed a Patriot surface-to-air missile battery on Mount Carmel near Haifa. This comes two days after an unidentified drone entered Israeli air space and flew over northern Negev desert with its nuclear facilities and southern West Bank.

An IDF spokesman said that "this is not an unusual thing" and it is done to prevent further attempts, in case there are any, to send drones into Israeli air space.

Some experts attribute this to the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and the statement of Turkish President Abdullah Gul referring to the developments as "the worst-case scenario."

Russian-Indian missile successfully tested
New Delhi RIA - On Sunday, India successfully tested a supersonic cruise missile called "BrahMos". The missile was built at the joint Indian-Russian venture "BrahMos Aerospace".

The name "BrahMos" was composed from the names of the Indian river Brahmaputra and the Russian river Moskva The missile was launched from the frigate "Teg", which was built in Russia on an order from India.

S. Korea to deploy 800-kilometre range missiles in 5 years
Seoul, Korea (TASS) Oct 11 - South Korea is due to deploy missiles with an effective range of between 550 kilometres and 800 kilometres in the next five years.

This came in a statement by a source in the South Korean government. Seoul can increase the range of its missiles thanks to a new agreement with Washington that was made public on Sunday.

According to experts, South Korea will now be able to deliver strikes at targets anywhere in North Korea.

The previous South Korean-US agreement to that end allowed Seoul to have missiles with an effective range of just 300 kilometres.

Source: RIA Novosti