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Su-35 jets to escort Tu-160 bomber for first time in Victory Parade on Moscow Red Square

The rehearsal was held in uneasy weather conditions but the pilots are ready for accomplishing tasks in any weather

Su-35S Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

Su-35S

© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, April 14. /TASS/. Su-35S multirole fighters will escort a Tu-160 strategic missile-carrying bomber for the first time during the Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, Aerial Weapons and Tactical Training Chief of the Aircraft Demonstration Center Alexander Ivashkin announced on Wednesday.

"We are planning a flight in a traditional formation over Red Square but this year a group of a Tu-160 aircraft escorted by four Su-35 fighters of the Russian Knights aerobatic group has been added," he said, following the results of the fifth rehearsal of the Victory Day Parade’s airborne part.

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The rehearsal was held in uneasy weather conditions but the pilots are ready for accomplishing tasks in any weather, he stressed.

Airborne parade

This year, three Mi-26 heavy transport helicopters will open the Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9 to mark the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. They will be followed by the crews of Mi-8 transport and attack choppers, Mi-35 and Ka-52 gunships and the Berkuts (Golden Eagles) aerobatic team flying Mi-28N rotorcraft, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported earlier.

The flyover will also involve Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers, Il-78 aerial refueling tankers, Il-76 military transport planes, Su-35S fighters, Su-34 and Su-24M bombers and other aircraft, it said.

The flyover will be concluded by the crews of MiG-31K and Su-57 fighter jets and also by three groups of aircraft: the tactical wing of the Lipetsk aviation center, the planes performing the Kubinka Diamond stunt and six Su-25 aircraft that will exhaust special fumes in the colors of the Russian national flag.

All the flights are being performed at altitudes of 180 to 550 meters and at speeds of 200 to 500 km/h, the ministry specified.

The fifth rehearsal of the airborne part of the Victory Day Parade took place over a training ground in Alabino outside the Russian capital on Wednesday. It involved over 70 aircraft and helicopters of Russia’s Aerospace Force.

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