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Firing drills featuring hypersonic S-300V4 missile system to be held in Russia’s south

The military drills will also feature Tor-M2U air defense missile systems

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. The S-300V4 air defense missile systems that can launch hypersonic missiles will be involved in field firing exercises at the Kapustin Yar range in the Astrakhan region, Southern Russia, in April-May, head of the tactical air defense Lieutenant General Alexander Leonov told TASS on Friday.

"Air defense specialists of the Ground Forces will conduct field firing exercise using the modern air defense missile systems Tor-M2U and S-300V4 at the Kapustin Yar range in the Astrakhan region," he said.

The S-300V4 missile speed is five times higher than the speed of sound and it can hit a target at a distance of 400 km. According to Leonov, the training of specialists for the S-300V4 system was started at the air defense centers in Yeisk and Orenburg in February. The missile system was delivered to the troops at the end of 2014. The training of the Tor-M2U specialists started two years ago.

"The purpose of the upcoming field firing is to check the level of training of specialists and performance of modern anti-aircraft missile complexes and systems," said General Leonov. According to him, the combat crews will conduct firing exercises without missile launches on real aircraft, simulating the potential enemy actions, and then will practice firing on missile targets.

In 2014, the air defence troops of the Russian Ground Forces received two battalion sets of the S-300V4 system and two Tor-M2U sets. At the end of last year, the S-300V4 air defense missile system entered service in the Southern Military District force grouping. The missile complex combats all types of the world’s medium-range missiles ensuring anti-aircraft and missile defense.