MOSCOW, September 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Aerospace Defense Forces (ADF) held large-scale military drills with the aim of exercising measures under conditions of the ‘escalated military and political situation’, including a possible enemy’s nuclear attack, a spokesman for the ADF said on Friday.
Colonel Alexey Zolotukhin said some 1,500 military servicemen took part in the military exercise. The Main Missile Warning Center, the Main Space Intelligence Center and the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Center were put on alert for the drills, he said.
“The on-ground services of the Space Command held daily about 1,500 management sessions of spacecraft from the Russian orbital grouping and some 80,000 calculations on objects in space,” Zolotukhin said.
Particular attention was paid to increasing the forces' survivability, reconstitution of combat systems and complexes, provision of incessant work of missile warning systems under conditions of jamming and enemy attacks.
The main task of the air and missile defense command of the ADF is to protect the city of Moscow and the Central Industrial District, ensure the defense of top state and military control facilities, industrial and energy sites, groupings of the Armed Forces and transport communications against aerospace strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The air and missile defense command of the ADF has an area of responsibility covering about 4,500 km, more than 25 regions and three republics in Russia.
The air and missile defense command of the Aerospace Defense Force operates S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems, S-300 Favorit air defense systems, Pantsir-S1 air defense missile and gun systems and radar stations capable of detecting air targets at a distance of up to 600 km and at an altitude of up to 100 km.
The air and missile defense command of the Aerospace Defense Force protects over 260 defense facilities within the area of its responsibility. The Aerospace Defense Force daily tracks up to 800 aircraft, of which 90 planes are covered by continuous daily radar control with data reported to the command post.