MOSCOW, December 26. /ITAR-TASS/. The combat training of the servicemen of the air defense (AD) troops of Russia's Land Forces will be carried out in 2014 with due regard for the experience gained in local wars and armed conflicts, Lieutenant-General Alexander Leonov, Chief of the AD Troops of the RF Land Forces, told journalists in connection with Thursday's 98th jubilee of AD troops.
Leonov said, "The main emphasis in the country's Armed Forces as regards air defense is now not only on bringing into being anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes but also on matters concerning the control of combined groupings of aviation and AD units in the conduct of joint combat operations by them in strategic sectors".
"A competent use of armament and military hardware of AD troops can be ensured only with a high level of professional training of personnel," Leonov said. "This is why combat training must be viewed as the basis of everyday activities of control agencies, forces, military units and subunits".
"It is essential to handle the training with due regard for the experience gained in local wars and armed conflicts," General Leonov pointed out.
Touching upon the basic orientations for the development of troop air defense in a period until 2020, Leonov pointed to the need "to raise the troops' combat training skills, and refine the system for the training of highly qualified officer personnel, as well as junior commanders and specialists of troop AD".