MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - Russian and Egyptian paratroopers have held a tactical live-fire exercise at the Egyptian Airborne Forces' training range near Cairo during the Defenders of Friendship 2021 joint tactical maneuvers.
"Servicemen of the two countries based at the training sites deployed fired small arms at targets. As part of their experience sharing, Russian paratroopers and servicemen of Egypt's Airborne Forces held a live-fire exercise, exchanging their small arms," the Information and Media Affairs Department of the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
Egyptian paratroopers fired Russian AK-12 assault rifles at targets located between 150 meters and 500 meters away, it said. The Russian servicemen, for their part, engaged targets using AK-47 automatic weapons.
"Personnel also fired RPG-7D and RPG-7 handheld anti-tank grenade launchers, targeting mock enemy armored hardware located at a distance of 250 meters to 400 meters. Concluding the drills at a training and supply base of the Egyptian Armed Forces' garrison, paratroopers encircled and eliminated the mock enemy in an urban area," it said.
The Defenders of Friendship 2021 exercise of the Russian Airborne Forces and the Egyptian Armed Forces' airborne troops started on October 17 and will continue until October 29. More than 500 servicemen, Ilyushin Il-76MD military-transport planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces, C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Egyptian Air Force, and Egypt's Chinook heavy-lift military-transport helicopters are participating in the maneuvers.