Airborne Troops soldiers redeployed to Rostov region during drills - Russian Defense Ministry
MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Airborne Troops Commander Col. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov has ordered that some of the troops' units be redeployed to the Rostov region as part of ongoing command and staff exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release, seen by Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"Paratroopers will be redeployed to an unfamiliar terrain in order to conduct a set of combat training sessions together with the Ivanovo division of the Airborne Troops as part of the divisional command and staff exercises," it said.
Up to 1,500 servicemen, a dozen units of military hardware and other items will be dropped by parachute simultaneously at the Kuzminki training range in the Rostov region, the ministry said.
"The servicemen, weapons, military hardware, as well as the required material reserves are being airlifted by 15 [Ilyushin] Il-76 airplanes. Improving coordination between different kinds of forces is one of the main goals of the exercises," it said.
In the Rostov region, the paratroopers and motorized rifle divisions are tackling reconnaissance, search, combat training and other tasks using advanced automated guidance and satellite communication systems.
The command and staff exercises, which are expected to continue until March 14, involve some 4,000 paratroopers, 36 military transport and combat aircraft, and up to 500 units of military hardware, including combat assault vehicles, armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery vehicles, large off-road trucks, snow vehicles and quad bikes.
The paratroopers first reached the Ivanovo-Severny airfield, from which they were transported to the Rostov region onboard military-transport airplanes.
Some of the servicemen were previously redeployed to the Tiksi airfield, where they joined simulated operations to rescue and evacuate "expeditions" in distress.