Full-scale air and air defense exercises begin in Russian Southern Military District.

A full-scale two-side air and air defense exercise has begun in the Southern Military District (YuVO). The drills engage more than 300 aircraft and helicopters of YuVO’s 4th Air and Air Defense Forces Army; operational groups of the YuVO military administrations, services and departments; armies and formations of the Southern Military District; air defense formations and units of combined-arms armies; the coastal troops and naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet as well as electronic warfare (EW), communication and logistics support units, the district said.

Mil Mi-26 (Picture source: Air Recognition)

"Field command posts of two opposing groups of aviation and air defense troops of the Southern Military District have been deployed at Ashuluk and Kapustin Yar ranges in the Astrakhan region. The drills’ plan envisages relocation of airfields from the Kuban region, the Crimea and the Rostov region to operational airfields in the Astrakhan region, the Stavropol Territory and the Republic of North Ossetia in a bid to evade enemy aviation strikes," YuVO said.

The Air and Air Defense Forces groups will train to repel a missile airstrike and launch a fire attack in the environ of four air ranges located in the Crimea, the Kuban region and the Stavropol Territory; at Ashuluk and Kapustin Yar ranges in the Astrakhan region as well as two ranges in the waters areas of the Black and Caspian Seas. The maneuvers will also involve combat employment of more than 300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, more than 2,500 rounds of anti-aircraft artillery as well as close to 100 air-launched weapons, including guided bombs and missiles.

Sukhoi Su-25 assault aircraft will take off from and land at an airfield with a rough airstrip located in the Rostov region. A Mil Mi-26 military transport helicopter will deliver fuel trucks for fueling automotive vehicles with subsequent refueling of attack helicopters at a field aerodrome as part of drills in the Astrakhan region. In the next ten days, the formations and military units of the 4th Air and Air Defense Forces army of the Southern Military District as well as air defense units with combined-arms armies and coastal troops of the Black Sea Fleet will carry out offensive and defensive air maneuvers on territories stretching from the Crimea to the Caspian Sea and from Abkhazia to the Astrakhan region.

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