MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Troops of Russia’s Eastern Military District will for the first time practice disguising manpower and military hardware as agricultural and industrial facilities during the drills that have kicked off in the Khabarovsk Region in the Russian Far East, the District’s press office reported on Monday.
"About 3,000 personnel of a motorized infantry large unit from the Eastern Military District will practice modern warfare techniques in a defensive battle at the Knyaze-Volkonsky training range in the Khabarovsk Region," the press office said in a statement.
"Special attention will be paid to multi-service force interaction, as well as to the techniques of building reconnaissance and fire contours based on the experience of present-day military conflicts. It should be noted that during the drills the troops will for the first time practice the techniques of camouflaging military units as agricultural and industrial infrastructure sites," the statement says.
As the press office of the Eastern Military District specified for TASS, marks designating, for example, a community absent on the map, a garden plot or a non-existent object will be set up at the training range. The troops’ forces will be disguised as such objects, the press office said.
During the practical stage of the drills, the troops will perform maneuvers with a switchover to the defense and practice strikes in counter-attacks, employing reconnaissance drones and helicopters of the Eastern Military District’s army aviation, the statement says.
The troops will strike a notional enemy’s force, employing about 350 weapon systems, including T-72B tanks, BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, Gvozdika self-propelled artillery guns, Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft systems, Sani mortars, Grad multiple launch rocket systems and anti-tank missile launchers.
The troops will also fire RPG-7V and AGS-17 ‘Plamya’ grenade launchers to crush the enemy. Ka-52 ‘Alligator’ strike helicopters of the Eastern Military District’s army aviation will provide air support for the troops while teams of Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles will provide reconnaissance data on adversary targets.