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Military drills

Tu-95MS strategic bombers launch missiles during drills in Russia’s Far East

Long-range aviation pilots practiced employing airborne weapons against ground targets and performed mid-air refueling while accomplishing flight assignments, according to the Aerospace Force

Tu-95MS strategic bomber Alexander Ryumin/TASS

Tu-95MS strategic bomber

© Alexander Ryumin/TASS

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers launched missiles and conducted mid-air refueling during drills in Russia’s Far East, the press office of the Aerospace Force reported on Tuesday.

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"An air regiment of long-range aviation held tactical flight drills in the Amur Region. The exercise involved over 10 crews of Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers and Il-78 aerial refueling tankers," the press office said in a statement.

During the drills, long-range aviation pilots practiced employing airborne weapons against ground targets at the training range in the Kamchatka Region and also performed mid-air refueling while accomplishing flight assignments, the statement says.

The flights of long-range aircraft pilots lasted more than eight hours, the press office said.

The Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bomber is designated to accomplish the tasks of striking vital targets in remote military-geographical areas and deep in the rear of continental theaters of military operations, employing nuclear missile weapons. A modernized bomber is furnished with a new control system and hardpoints for Kh-101 missiles that have proven their efficiency in Syria.

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