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Russia’s Center-2019 drills practiced operations based on Syria experience

The drills involved the personnel of the Central Military District, the Caspian Flotilla of the Southern Military District, some troops of the Eastern Military District, the Airborne Force, long-range and military transport aviation

MOSCOW, November 15. /TASS/. Russia’s Center-2019 strategic command and staff drills that took place on September 16-21 practiced new patterns of troops’ employment and methods of their operations based on the Syria combat experience, Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.

"The drills practiced new patterns of employing the troops and the methods of their operations taking into account the experience of present-day local wars and armed conflicts, and also the Syria campaign," the defense chief said, summing up the results of the large-scale command and staff maneuvers with the commanding staff.

The drills involved the personnel of the Central Military District, the Caspian Flotilla of the Southern Military District, some troops of the Eastern Military District, the Airborne Force, long-range and military transport aviation, the defense minister said.

The Airborne Force employed a separate air assault brigade as a tactical airborne assault force as part of the continued experiment to set up a military formation of a new type, Shoigu said.

"It provided support for the operations of the grouping’s main forces. As a result, the assigned missions were accomplished on time and with good quality," the defense minister said.

For the first time after the Zapad-81 (West-81) maneuvers, a parachute regiment and over 200 items of armament and military hardware were successfully airdropped this year, the defense chief said.

"This became possible thanks to the capabilities of military transport aviation. The large-scale operation simultaneously involved 71 Il-76 planes," the defense minister said.

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