About 50 flight and engineering personnel and two Mi-8MTV5 helicopters were involved in the exercises
YEKATERINBURG, September 27. /TASS/. Crews of modernized Mi-8 helicopters of a separate helicopter squadron of the Army of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Central Military District (CVO), stationed in Kazakhstan, launched unguided missiles at tactical flight exercises that ended on Monday at the Edelweiss aviation range in the Tien Shan Mountains in the Issyk-Kul region (Kyrgyzstan). This is stated in the press service of the district.
"During the three-day exercise, the crews performed training flights in mountainous and high-altitude areas, and in the final phase of the exercise, they conducted combat use of 80-mm air-to-surface missiles at targets simulating a lightly armored column of equipment and mobile command posts of a conditional enemy. < ... > The pilots performed more than 20 sorties and launched about 50 unguided missiles," the report says.
About 50 flight and engineering personnel and two Mi-8MTV5 helicopters were involved in the exercises. On the eve of the exercises, helicopter crews arrived at the Russian military base Kant from the Priozersk airfield in Kazakhstan.
The joint Russian military base in Kant is an aviation component of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and participates in ensuring the security of the airspace. The base is armed with Su-25 attack aircraft and Mi-8 helicopters.