HARB-MAIDON TRAINING RANGE, Tajikistan. Oct 25 (Interfax) - The large-scale operational strategic exercise Combat Brotherhood of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (KSOR) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which has concluded in Tajikistan, is a response to the escalation in Afghanistan, Commander of the Central Military District, Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, said.
"The large-scale exercises with the CSTO KSOR, which have concluded in Tajikistan, became one of most important measures in response to the sudden deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan. The aim of the exercises is to protect the CSTO member states from any terrorist threat," Lapin said at the closing ceremony on Saturday.
The maneuvers held at Harb-Maidon training range were special in that they used brand new reconnaissance, electronic-ware, logistical and medical equipment, he said. Thus, the Search exercise involved deploying an efficient reconnaissance control system "which registered a rising threat well in advance and thus helped foil a militant plot," Lapin said.
In addition, a single information battlefield created during the exercises made it possible to destroy the enemy in a hard-to-access area in real time, Lapin said. Also for the first time, during the Echelon exercise the logistics troops used 19 pieces of brand new specialist equipment in a mountainous desert area, which reduced pre-combat preparation times to less than a third, he said.
The centerpiece was a joint KSOR operation during the Interaction exercise, where "the success of our troops in defeating a militant invasion was ensured by their sudden, lightning-fast decisive action throughout the depth of the enemy grouping," Lapin said. Special forces and search and attack helicopter groups were widely used in the mountains. Operational-tactical and army aircraft provided continual support for raiding and flanking detachments.
"The experience gained during the exercises will be a reliable guarantor of task-execution in a real combat environment," Lapin said.