Russia launches large-scale command-and-staff exercise

Vladivostok, Russia | Xinhua | Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have launched a large-scale command-and-staff exercise that will involve the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

“The exercise will involve over 3,000 servicemen and about 300 pieces of military hardware. A commission of the Strategic Missile Forces’ command will assess cohesion among the personnel fulfilling their tasks,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Omsk Missile Formation and the Novosibirsk Missile Formation, equipped with Yars mobile launchers, will participate in the exercise, said the statement.

The servicemen of the Strategic Missile Forces would carry out a complex of measures to train concealment and counter-measures against modern aerial survey systems, it added.

The RS-24 Yars, a modification of the Topol-M missile, is Russia’s strategic missile system armed with a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile. It reportedly has an operational range of up to 12,000 km and can carry multiple nuclear warheads. ■