DONGUZ TRAINING RANGE (Orenburg region). Sept 20 (Interfax) - More than 50 Russian and Chinese airplanes have carried out missile and bombing strikes on mock enemy targets during the main phase of the Center 2019 exercise, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"Over 50 tactical planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Chinese People's Liberation Army conducted a missile and bombing strike on targets posing as mock enemy military hardware, weapons and firing positions," the ministry said.
MiG-31BM interceptor aircraft, Su-35 fighter jets, Su-34 bomber aircraft and also Su-24 and Su-30 planes took part in the exercise. Some of them had arrived in the Orenburg region in advance. The other planes took off from airfields in the Perm territory and the Chelyabinsk region during the drills.
China had sent Shenyang J-11 fighter jets and Xian JH-7A bombers to Russia's Orenburg region ahead of the exercise. It was also reported that H-6k long-range bomber aircraft, which can carry nuclear weapons, had also arrived in Russia for the drills.
Officials watching the active phase of the exercise include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, commander of forces of Russia's Central Military District Alexander Lapin, chief of the Russian Armed Forces' Main Combat Training Directorate Ivan Buvaltsev, and delegation heads, including the defense ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries.
Gerasimov is supervising the September 16-21 Center 2019 exercise, which is taking place on Russian training ranges. Training ranges of partner states are hosting individual episodes of the drills.
Around 128,000 servicemen, more than 20,000 weapons and units of military hardware, some 600 aircraft, and up to 15 ships and logistics vessels are taking part in the exercise, the Russian Defense Ministry said.