MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. The crews of Sukhoi Su-24M bombers launched about 100 missiles and bombs to destroy a notional enemy during drills in the Astrakhan Region, Russia’s Southern Military District reported on Tuesday.
"During the battle, about 100 air-launched weapons were employed, including missiles and bombs," the press office said in a statement.
Overall, the large-scale force-on-force drills of the Southern Military District’s air unit stationed in the Volgograd Region and air groupings of the District’s air defense troops involve more than 20 aircraft, the press office specified for TASS.
The drills consisted of two stages. During the first phase, the crews practiced warding off an enemy attack against the airfield and redeploying to aerodromes in the Astrakhan Region. During the 2nd stage, "the pilots repelled a missile air attack and delivered a strike at the Kapustin Yar and Ashuluk training ranges," the District’s press office said.
The Su-24M bombers delivered strikes against the notional enemy after receiving coordinates transmitted by Su-24MR reconnaissance planes.
Air operations with the offensive and defensive goals will be held during ten days on the territory spanning from Crimea to the Caspian Sea and from Abkhazia to the Astrakhan Region. The exercises will involve "units and formations of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Southern Military District, and also air defense units of the Black Sea Fleet’s all-arms formations and coastal defense troops.