MOSCOW, December 11 /TASS/. The military operation in Syria has shown that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones are irreplaceable in modern warfare, Russian Defense Minister General of the Army Sergey Shoigu told a concluding Russian Defense Ministry board meeting on Friday.

"A leap forward has been made in the development of unmanned aviation. The experience of fulfilling combat tasks in Syria has shown that they (UAV) are irreplaceable in military hostilities," the minister said adding that the number of modern UAVs in the Russian army has increased to 1,720 in 2015 from just 180 drone aircraft in 2011.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces; members of the Russian Security Council; the leaders of the Russian Federal Assembly (parliament), government members and commanders of military districts and units of the Russian Armed Forces took part in the enlarged annual meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry Board.