Drones, Lasers, Hypersonic Missiles: CSTO Updates Arsenal

29 SEP 2025 07:16

In a tense military-political situation, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is preparing to include new types of weapons in its foundational documents for the first time. According to "Izvestia," this refers to hypersonic and laser weapons, as well as unmanned systems. With this step, the member countries of the organization (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan) aim to coordinate their use against military threats.

The draft of the corresponding agreement will be discussed on October 7 in St. Petersburg at a meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Defense and Security. The Chief of the Joint Staff of the organization, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov, noted that the need for this initiative is due to the aggravation of the military-political situation in the organization's area of responsibility. According to him, in modern armed conflicts, including in Ukraine, the parties use the most modern types of weapons and test promising samples.

In the document, the concept of "new types of weapons" is defined quite broadly as "devices and objects intended to defeat the enemy in armed combat," which include achievements of science and technology, including non-lethal, psychophysical, and other means of influence "for the purpose of compelling the enemy to peace."

According to military expert Dmitry Kornev, the newest weapons currently in the arsenal of the CSTO countries are mainly of three types.

Unmanned systems (drones): Almost all member countries are engaged in their development. This refers to both aerial (including FPV drones) and ground-based robotic systems. Naval drones are only available in Russia, although Kazakhstan also has the potential to create them.
Laser systems: Mainly intended for combating drones. Russia and Belarus are working in this area, with the latter recently presenting the "Shafran" laser complex.
Hypersonic systems: Russia is the leader in this field ("Kinzhal," "Oreshnik" missile systems). Belarus is also working on missile systems ("Polonez"), which in the future could become carriers of hypersonic warheads.

Experts note that the need for such an agreement is also due to the rapid development of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, and their application in the military sphere. The new document should establish common rules, mechanisms for joint planning and expertise, with the aim of strengthening the organization's role in building a new security architecture in Eurasia.