A week-long multinational military exercise ‘TSENTR’ [Centre] 2019 has commenced in Russia’s Donguz under the ambit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday.
Apart from host Russia, military contingents from all SCO member states including Pakistan are taking part in this international exercise, the statement read.
The opening ceremony was attended by senior military officials of all the participating countries.
The exercise “Centre” aims at evolving drills of the participating armies in the fight against international terrorism ensuring security and stability in the region.
The member countries are exchanging its experiences against the anti-terrorism in the military exercise, it added.
According to TASS news agency, Russia’s Iskander-M mobile short-range ballistic missile systems from Russia’s Urals, deployed in Kazakhstan to take part in the Tsentr-2019 strategic command and staff exercises, will carry out a missile strike at a target several hundreds of kilometres away, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters on Tuesday.
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Besides, Russia’s Su-35s and MiG-31 fighter jets have entered combat duty at airbases of the Central Military District for the period of the exercises, a Russian defence ministry source told reporters on Tuesday.
“More than 20 crews of MiG-31 and Su-35s fighter jets based at three airfields in the Perm, Krasnoyarsk and Orenburg regions will guard the airspace in designated areas for the period of the exercises,” the source said.
The crews have been fully trained, among other things, to intercept aerial targets, engage in air-to-air combat, destroy aerial and ground targets, provide fire support to ground forces.
All in all, the strategic command-and-staff exercise Tsentr-2019 will involve 128,000 troops, more than 20,000 pieces of military equipment, 600 aircraft and 15 warships and auxiliary vessels.
The main operations will be conducted on September 16-21 at training ranges in South Russia, Siberia and Urals and in the Caspian Sea. Servicemen from Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will take part.
