Russian Fighter jets practiced destroying ‘enemy’s intruder aircraft’ at drills.
In a separate drill earlier, Russian fighter jets were mobilized to intercept and destroy an “enemy violator”.
Long-range MiG-31 supersonic aircraft from the Pacific Fleet were deployed to head off a mock intruder of Russian airspace in drills on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Soviet-era interceptor attack aircraft located the “enemy” target before destroying it with missiles in the “designated area”, according to Russia’s Pacific Fleet.
Air fighters of the Pacific Fleet’s naval aviation have intercepted a “violator” of the Russian airspace at drills on the Kamchatka Peninsula, which were held in difficult weather conditions, spokesman for the Pacific Fleet Captain 2nd rank Nikolai Voskresensky reported.
“Air fighters of the separate mixed naval aviation regiment of the Pacific Fleet trained to intercept a ‘violator’ of the airspace in difficult weather conditions in Kamchatka,” Voskresensky reported.
A MiG-31 high-altitude interceptor had to infiltrate the country’s airspace in order to conduct air reconnaissance there and imitate strikes on Kamchatka’s important facilities. The alert crews of MiG-31 high-altitude interceptors were scrambled to intercept the “enemy.” The Pacific Fleet’s fighters found and intercepted the goal and then carried out electronic launches of missiles. According to objective control data, the goal was successfully destroyed in the designated area.
The dramatic drill comes as Ukraine and Russia remain at loggerheads over a shipping incident in the Black Sea off Crimea at the end of November.
Russian supersonic missile destroys ships in the Caspian Sea during drills (MoD footage)
Moscow claims the Ukrainian ships – two artillery ships and a tugboat – illegally encroached Russian territory as they headed from Odessa to Mariupol in the Black Sea on Sunday.
The Ukrainian ships were passing into the Sea of Azov, which is linked to the Black Sea by the narrow Strait of Kerch, when they were blocked by a Russian tanker. Six sailors were wounded, one seriously, after Russia opened fire on the vessels and 24 Ukrainian naval officers, including members of the country’s security service, the SBU, were detained.
See details: Russia opened fire and captured 3 Ukrainian naval vessels, 6 wounded and 23 crew members captured
Since then Ukraine has declared martial law and placed its armed forces on full-combat alert in preparation for a military clash with Russia.
Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko fears a “full-scale war” with Russia is possible after the “extraordinary event” in the Black Sea.
He said, because Russian military activity and tank deployments have “dramatically increased” along Ukraine’s borders, the armed forces have been ramping up preparations “in case of a large-scale ground invasion”.
See details: Ukraine and Russia on the brink of war? Ukrainian declares martial law
