Air Force, Air Defense to practice deterrence of airstrikes on Union State in September - ministry
MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian and Belarusian servicemen will practice deterrence of airstrikes on the Union State territory in the course of the West 2013 exercises on September 26-27.
"The joint command will train the planning of operations of the Union State regional forces and the isolation of zones of operations of illegal armed units in the first stage of the drill. The Air Force/Air Defense group will be enlarged to prevent simulated airstrikes on the Union State territory," says a report of the Russian Defense Ministry press service and information department obtained by Interfax-AVN on Monday.
It emphasized the exercises "were defensive and consistent with the military doctrines of Russia and Belarus."
The second stage of the drill will practice troop control in joint operations of military commands and forces at training ranges.
The Belarusian defense minister and the Russian General Staff chief will supervise the West 2013 exercises, which will practice preparations and use of the regional forces in the interests of military security of the Union State, the Defense Ministry said.
It is planned to improve operative compatibility of staff at various levels and cohesion of the prospective control systems of forces and armaments and to test the efficiency of new statutory documents drafted at the Armed Forces of Belarus and Russia.
Russian-Belarusian exercises are a biannual event. The latest drill, Union Shield, was held in September 2011 on Europe's largest training range, Gorokhovetsky, in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
