Large-scale exercises of five air defense formations with a large number of combat launches from the S-300V4, Buk-M3 and Tor-M complexes were held in the Astrakhan region. This was announced on Thursday, October 28, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
During the maneuvers, "units of anti-aircraft missile formations of the Southern, Western and Eastern military districts repelled massive strikes by ballistic and cruise missiles, aviation, as well as a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles of a conditional enemy."
More than 1,000 military personnel and 300 units of weapons and military equipment were involved in the maneuvers.
The first line of echeloned air defense was formed by long-range S-300V4 systems that repelled the impact of aeroballistic missiles. At the second turn, the Buk-M3 medium-range military air defense systems and the Tor-M2 short-range anti-aircraft missile systems divisions worked.
Typhoon-Air defense combat vehicles were involved in the near boundary, the calculations of which, with the help of portable anti-aircraft missile systems "Willow", provided interception of a conditional enemy at a range of up to 6 km and an altitude of 3.5 km.
Earlier on Thursday, sources in the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia that units of the Southern Military District (SE) will receive new portable air defense missile systems (MANPADS) "Willow". The military department reported that the first 50 sets of air defense in the summer of 2021 have already received a motorized rifle unit in the Stavropol Territory.
Earlier, on June 7, the Buk-M3 complexes passed a sea check in the Crimea. During the exercises, the air defense forces repelled a massive air strike over the sea. As part of the exercises, Buk-M3 hit targets simulating the flights of drones and cruise missiles over the sea.
The Buk-M3 is the most modern medium-range anti-aircraft system, which has no foreign analogues in its characteristics. Thanks to modern radars and ammunition, the maximum range of the upgraded complex has increased from 40 to 70 km, and the height of hitting targets - up to 35 km.
The Tor-M2 air defense system has an ammunition package of 16 anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) and is capable of simultaneously firing at up to four different types of targets at altitudes up to 10 km. The system is suitable for combating cruise missiles, which, as a rule, go to the target at ultra-low altitudes with the circumference of the terrain.
