MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. More than 1,500 servicemen and over 200 units of miltiary equipment will be airdropped from over 80 Il-76 military transport planes as part of the Tsentr-2019 strategic command and staff exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"More than 1,500 paratroopers and over 200 pieces of combat hardware have been taken to airfields, where they will be loaded in about 80 Il-76 planes to be airdropped during the practical training of troops at the Donguz training range [in Russia’s Orenburg region in southern Urals]," the ministry said.

All in all, the strategic command-and-staff exercise Tsentr-2019 will involve 128,000 troops, more than 20,000 pieces of military equipment, 600 aircraft and 15 warships and auxiliary vessels. The main operations will be conducted on September 16-21 at training ranges in Southern Russia, Siberia and Urals and in the Caspian Sea, involving servicemen from Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.