Defense ministry: aviation drills with Russia completed

February 2, BPN. The Belarusian defense ministry has said that aviation drills with Russia are over.

The drills that began on January 16 have demonstrated a high degree of interoperability of headquarters and confidence in joint action, the ministry said.

It reiterated that the exercises were focused on the Belarusian-Russian union’s security and were defensive.

The commander of the Belarusian Air/Air Defense Forces said the aviation component of the joint regional group of forces saw “certain adjustments” as a result of the drills.

The adjustments had something to do with the application of aerial weapons in combat, aviation, and aviation control from the A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft, “which allowed us to significantly extend the radar range to cover virtually the whole of Belarus at low and extremely low altitudes,” Colonel Andrej Łukjanovič said.

“One of the elements [of the drills] was the dispersal and redeployment of aircraft to reserve airfields in Belarus and Russia, including to civil airfields, where our pilots landed Su-34s and Su-30s. Infrastructure and possible redeployment to civilian airports was checked. That makes it possible to boost the survivability of the regional group of forces’ aviation component,” he added.

On October 15, the defense ministry in Minsk said that first trains carrying Russian troops as part of the joint regional group of forces arrived in Belarus. The regional group was formed to enhance Union State border security, it said.

On January 6, a Russian commander reported to Alaksandr Łukašenka that Russian and Belarusian troops had completed combat coordination as part of the group.