KURSK, August 23. /TASS/. The world-renowned Soviet T-34 tank that crushed the Nazis in World War II led an armored column at a military parade in Kursk to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Kursk Salient, TASS reports from the scene.
The T-34-85 tank, an upgraded version of the T-34, was delivered to the military parade from the Leningrad Region.
"The tank rolling through the square was manufactured way back in 1943 by the Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory. This tank engaged in battles on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War [fought by the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany in World War II]," the parade reviewers said from the tribune.
The military parade’s mechanized column included 75 armored vehicles. The upgraded Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems and also the tracked T-34, T-72B3 tanks and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles took part in the military parade for the first time. Guests also got a chance to see the Western Military District’s sole 120mm self-propelled Nona-SVK mortars, 2S12 ‘Sani’ mortar systems, Orlan-10 drone launchers based on Tigr armored vehicles, Krasukha 2.O, Murmansk and Krasukha 4-S electronic warfare systems and the Tochka-U tactical missile complexes closing the mechanized column’s march.
The parade was concluded by a flyover of aircraft of Russia’s army, transport and tactical aviation at an altitude of over 150 meters and at a speed of up to 600 km/h that included Mi-24, Ka-52 and Mi-28 helicopters, upgraded MiG-29SMT fighter jets, high-altitude MiG-31 fighters and generation 4++ fighter aircraft.
Commander of the All-Arms Army of the Western Military District Major-General Andrei Ivanayev reviewed the military parade.