MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. The pilots of deck-based MiG-29KR fighter jets for the first time started practicing flights with landings on the deck of an aircraft carrier at the Nitka aviation training range in Crimea, a source in the regional defense circles told TASS on Friday.
"The pilots of the 100th separate shipborne fighter regiment from the Northern Fleet’s naval aviation, which arrived at the Saki aerodrome in late September, are holding intensive training to engage arrester hooks on the ground-based ‘aircraft carrier,’" the source said.
Five MiG-29KR fighters are involved in the training flights, the source added.
The fighter regiment operates MiG-29KR/MiG-29KUBR, and also MiG-29K/MiG-29KUB aircraft.
The 100th aviation regiment is undergoing training at the Nitka practice range in Saki for the first time. Previously, only the pilots of Su-33 and Su-25UTG aircraft from the 279th separate shipborne fighter regiment were trained at the Nitka practice range, the source noted.
The aircraft from both regiments took part in the deployment of the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to the Syrian waters, which ended in February 2017.
Russia’s Defense Ministry earlier reported that the personnel of a separate shipborne fighter regiment from the Northern Fleet had redeployed on MiG-29K aircraft to Crimea to practice piloting at the Nitka training range. The pilots’ training on the simulated aircraft carrier will last about a month.