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Air defense troops on alert for Combat Commonwealth drills

Units from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are assembled near the southern city of Astrakhan

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. Around 4,000 troops from six countries took up positions on Monday for three days of exercises at a Russian missile range.

Units from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia are assembled near the southern city of Astrakhan to defend terrain against threats to the combined air defenses of countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Forces are on the alert after marching to the Ashuluk range for Combat Commonwealth 2015, collective war drills for counter-terrorist and other armed conflict operations.

Weaponry and support hardware has been deployed to control airspace in the threatened area. These are to track targets for surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft units equipped with S-400 Triumph, S-300 Favorit, S-125 Pechora-2M, Buk and Pantsyr-S firepower (NATO code-names SA-21 Growler, SA-10 Grumble, SA-3 Goa, SA-6 Gainful and SA-22 Greyhound).

This equipment is being used in the face of heavy electronic jamming to eliminate high-altitude, terrain-following enemy aircraft across an entire spectrum of speed and height.