Large-scale military exercises with aidrop for the 98th airborne division of Russian army 1103143

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Defence & Security News - Russia
 
 
Tuesday, March 11, 2014 05:32 PM
 
Large-scale military exercises with aidrop for the 98th airborne division of Russian army.
A Russian army airborne division based in central Russia began large-scale exercises Tuesday, March 11, 2014. The Defense Ministry said units of the 98th Guards Airborne Division, based in Ivanovo, a city east of Moscow, were put on high alert and moved to unspecified locations to “check readiness” in simulated combat conditions.
     
     

Four thousand troops, 36 military transport aircraft and an unspecified number of combat vehicles are taking part in the exercises, which will run until March 14.

The drills will include a massive simultaneous aidrop involving 3,500 servicemen, the ministry said.

The drills come in the wake of a number of military exercises in Russia’s western regions in the past days, including air defense drills, combat readiness snap checks and a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Russia says the exercises are not linked to the development in Crimea.

The 98th Airborne Division of the Russian airborne troops (VDV) is composed mainly by the 217th Airborne Regiment and the 331st Airborne Regiment. The two regiments are equipped with BMD-1 tracked armoured fighting vehicles, BTR-D tracked personnel carrier and 2S9 Nona-S 120 mm self-propelled mortar carrier.

Each regiment has a total of 1,555 soldiers.