MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces have had a scheduled drill in testing the system of command and control. The effort embraced the bases and units of the Strategic Missile Troops, the North and Pacific Fleets, the Caspian Flotilla, and the Strategic Aviation.
"In the course of the drill, the Armed Forces tested the reliability of passage of the operation orders and signals down the entire vertical of command and control from the National Defence Control Center to the command stations at bases and separate units," the Defence Ministry said in a report on the exercise.
Tupolev-160 strategic bombers (known as the White Swans in Russia and the Blackjacks in NATO countries did the launches of ballistic missiles at ground targets on the Pemba and Kura firing ranges.
Strategic submarines of the North and Pacific Fleets did the launches of ballistic missiles. "Missiles were launched from the water areas of the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk by the submarines Bryansk of the North Fleet and Podolsk of the Pacific Fleet," the report said.
Each of the two submarines carries sixteen missiles.
The crew of the guided-missile boat Veliky Ustyug of the Caspian Flotilla launched a Kalibr cruise missile at a training target.
"A combat crew of the Strategic Missile Troops launched a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk space center," the ministry said.
An Iskander missile complex fired a missile at a target on the Kapustin Yar rocket testing site in the Astrakhan region," it said.