MOSCOW, January 22. /ATSS/. Russian fighter aircraft MiG-31BM of the Russian Aerospace Force aviation center in the Nizhny Novgorod have hammered out intercept of hypothetical enemy planes at a high altitude, including in the lower stratosphere, the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"A pair of fighter aircraft of a similar type acted as ‘enemy’ aircraft. The hypothetical enemy air crews conducted flights at an altitude of 10 km to 15 km (the lower stratosphere starts at an altitude of 11 km - TASS) and at a speed of 1,000 to 2,500 km per hour," the report says.

The exercise involved more than 10 crews. All targets were "destroyed’ in missile attacks at a distance of more than 150 km, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

The military drill was conducted to retrain pilots across the country to operate the upgraded version of the MiG-31BM interceptor aircraft which is outfitted with a modern control system and high-precision weaponry and maintains a technological edge over its predecessor, the MiG-31, by its combat effectiveness, which is 2.6 times higher, the ministry said.