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Military drills

Russian Giatsint-S artillery used as precision weapon first time ever

The exercises involved more than 2,000 servicemen and 400 vehicles

Giatsint-S self-propelled gun Yury Smityuk/TASS, archive

Giatsint-S self-propelled gun

© Yury Smityuk/TASS, archive

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Crews of 2S5 Giatsint-S long-range artillery of Russia’s Eastern Military District have used self-propelled guns as high-precision weapon for the first time, the District's press service announced Friday.

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"Crews of the 2S5 Giatsint-S long-range self-propelled guns of the Eastern Military Disctrict, stationed in the Amur Region, conducted test firing, using coordinates, provided by Orlan-10 UAVs. The test firing was aimed at targets, imitating enemy command centers and other critical facilities of the alleged enemy," the press service said. "Joint use of the artillery and the UAVs significantly expands its [Giatsint-S] potential. Now, it is possible to use powerful ordnance at remote distance with effectiveness of high-precision weapons."

In a matter of hours, the drone crews conducted reconnaissance and revealed top priority targets, which required high-precision aiming. The coordinates were transmitted to the artillery crew in real time, allowing for long-range point artillery strikes.

The crews also practiced salvo firing on a wide-area targets.

The military exercise takes place at Tryokhrechye proving ground, involving more than 2,000 servicemen and 400 vehicles.

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