Heavy artillery weapons destroy mock enemy targets at drills in Russia's N. Caucasus
ROSTOV-ON-DON. Oct 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Combined-arms artillery units of Russia's Southern Military District destroyed mock enemy forward command points and weapons during an exercise at the Tarskoye training range in North Ossetia, the military district's press service said.
"In line with the scenario [of the drills], a simultaneous fire attack was launched by units equipped with Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems and divisions armed with Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems backed by the artillery unit's heavy artillery weapons, including 240mm 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled mortars and 203mm 2S7M Malka self-propelled cannons. Having accomplished the task of destroying key mock enemy targets, the artillery units performed a counter-fire maneuver and continued to further neutralize mock enemy command points by concentrated fire," the press service said.
Attached units of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) helped adjust artillery fire and conducted video surveillance to assess the accuracy of strikes on mock enemy targets, it said.
Opposing-force command and staff drills, supervised by Southern Military District Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, began on October 1 and will end on October 8. The maneuvers are focusing on maintaining military security along Russia's southern border.
Up to 7,000 servicemen and more than 2,500 units of military hardware, including nearly 20 airplanes and more than 60 helicopters, are participating in different phases of the exercise. Some 20 UAV units are conducting aerial reconnaissance and video monitoring of the troops' actions during the drills.