Russian soldiers of S-300V (NATO reporting name: SA-10 Grumble) air defense missile systems of Russia’s Western Military District have held a live-firing exercise at the Kapustin Yar training range in the Astrakhan Region in south Russia, the district’s press office said.

S-300V TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) tracked vehicle at Army-2016 International Military Technical Forum near Moscow, Russia. 

"The crews were tasked to hit Strizh and Bekas target missiles simulating the enemy’s air-launched weapons, including low-flying planes, cruise, ballistic and aeroballistic missiles and hypersonic aircraft," the press office said.

The air defense units moved from the Moscow Region to the Astrakhan Region during the exercise.

"Earlier, the servicemen practiced searching for, detecting and tracking practice targets and identifying and classifying aerial targets at low and extremely low altitudes," the press office said.

"The exercise involved about 250 servicemen and more than 100 items of military hardware," the press office added.

The S-300V 9K81 (NATO code Sa-12 Gladiator/Giant) is a Russian-made air defense missile system mounted in tracked armoured vehicle. The S-300V is designed and manufactured by the Russian Defence Company Antey.

The two stage 9M83 “Type I Missile” / SA-12A Gladiator and 9M82 “Type II Missile” / SA-12B Giant are the guided missiles used by the S-300V / SA-12 system. The 9M83 missile is designed to counter weapons employed to deliver dense attacks. It is highly effective against any type of existing and prospective aircraft at ranges of up to 75 km, against SRAM-type aero-ballistic missiles, tactical ballistic missiles of the Lance type at ranges of up to 40 km, and against nap-of-the-earth cruise missiles.

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