KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 26. /TASS/. Combat robotic systems will be engaged in the Zapad-2021 (West-2021) joint Russia-Belarus strategic drills, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the Army 2021 international military-technical forum on Thursday.

"Mine-clearing robots made their appearance at the very beginning. Simultaneously, work was underway to develop combat strike robots. I believe that you certainly will see [them] at the Zapad-2021 drills, and not just one or two such robots. By now, it involves industrial production and there are already dozens of combat strike robots, and the weapons they employ operate at a distance of up to 5 km," Russia’s defense chief revealed in a live broadcast on the Defense Ministry’s Zvezda TV.

Thanks to Army 2021 forum, all problems with the armaments and combat systems uncovered during the military operation in Syria were rooted out, Shoigu said. In particular, Russian specialists resolved the issue with the altitude and flight range of army aviation aircraft that had been within the strike area of the mobile air defense systems, he added.

"The next issues are those related to unmanned aerial vehicles. When we began the campaign in Syria, we sometimes encountered difficult situations because we needed combat drones, but today we can say that we have them and this is very good and valuable experience," Russia’s defense chief noted.