All news

Russian Air Force units test operations of high-alert air defenses in Far East

MOSCOW, September 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Warplanes and helicopters of the Russian Air Force have tested the combat readiness of high-alert air defense units of Russia’s Eastern Military District, the press service of the Defence Ministry said.

Engaged in the testing were the aircraft and helicopters of fifteen different types - Sukhoi-27, MIG-31, Tupolev-134, Antonov-26, Antonov-12, Mi-8, and Ka-52 - that imitated the actions of aerial targets intruding into Russian airspace.

The objective of the crews was to get through the air defenses unnoticed by radar stations and missile systems. For this purpose, the aircraft and helicopters made flights at different speed at the altitudes varying to 50 meters to 10,000 meters.

Most of the flights were performed with the identification systems switched off at the lowest possible altitudes and to skirt features of the terrain.

The flights were made during the daytime and after dusk and were registered by air-based and ground-based objective control instruments. Upon completion of the ad hoc inspection of units and services of the Eastern Military District, which began September 18 upon an order from the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, assessment of performance of the air defense crews will be made.

The inspection that will last through to Thursday involves about 100,000 servicemen of five multi-service branches of the Eastern Military District, commanding officers of the Ai Force and Air Defense Troops, ships of the Pacific Fleet, as well as the staffs of Strategic and Military Transport Aviation.