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Military drills

Pskov paratroopers’ tank battalion holds live-fire exercise in northwest Russia

Overall, more than 100 personnel and over 30 items of military hardware were involved

T-72B3 tank Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

T-72B3 tank

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/. A tank battalion recently set up in the Pskov Guards air assault division held a live-fire exercise at the Strugi Krasniye practice range in northwest Russia, the press office of Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"At the training range, the tank crews held a live-fire exercise to hit targets simulating tanks, vehicle-mounted recoilless guns, anti-tank grenade launcher squads and a notional enemy’s other weapons," the press office said in a statement.

Read also

Russian paratroopers to get armored vehicle with unmanned combat module

The tank crews delivered fire from T-72B3 tanks. Overall, more than 100 personnel and over 30 items of military hardware were involved in the drills. The paratroopers also "practiced accomplishing measures within specified time limits to load ammunition and transfer a tank from a travelling to a combat position," the statement reads.

Russia’s Airborne Force Commander Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda in August last year that three tank battalions and units of electronic counter-measures and unmanned aerial vehicles would be set up in the paratroops in 2018.

Russia’s top brass planned to set up the Airborne Force’s tank battalions in the 76th air assault division, the 7th (mountain) air assault division and in one of air assault brigades.

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Military drills

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