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Russian Pacific Fleet’s TU-142 aircraft make scheduled flight over Pacific, Arctic

The flight continued for 12 hours

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Two Tupolev Tu-142 maritime reconnaissance aircraft of the Russian Pacific Fleet made a scheduled flight over the neutral waters of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"The flight continued for 12 hours. The aircraft covered the distance of more than 5,000 kilometers," it said.

According to the Defense Ministry, the pilots drilled an overland sortie without land-based reference stations and teamwork while piloting without land-based navigational aids. The two TU-142 aircraft were escorted by MiG-31BM fighters of the Russian Pacific Fleet.

The flight of the Pacific Fleet’s anti-submarine aircraft was done in strict compliance with international airspace rules and as part of the TU-142 crews’ winter combat training, the Russian Defense Ministry added.

Several days earlier, the two TU-142 anti-submarine aircraft of the Russian Pacific Fleet had made a 12-hour scheduled flight in the neutral air space over the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

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