MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian military transport aviation will take part in some 10 large-scale exercises in 2002, its commander Lieutenant General Viktor Denisov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
The military transport aviation held six large-scale exercises together with the Airborne Troops in the vicinity of Pskov, Ivanovo, Ulyanovsk and in other regions of the country in 2001, Denisov said.
"This year, our plan includes a roughly equal number of exercises. The next one, involving the Berlin military transport aviation regiment stationed in Orenburg, is scheduled for mid- February. It is timed to the 60th anniversary of the Vyazma airborne operation," the commander said.
According to him, the military transport aviation will spend February and March on preparations for a command post exercise (CPX) that Air Force Commander Vladimir Mikhailov will supervise in April. "The CPX will be the main training element of the year for the military transport aviation," Denisov said.
He noted that his military branch had got fuel for planned combat training for the first time in three years. In 2000 and 2001, fuel provided to the military transport was not divided into shares for aerial transportation and combat training.
"In 2002, we have 1.5 times more fuel than last year. For the first time in three years there is a division in the provided amount: its two thirds are intended for aerial transportation and one third for combat training," Denisov specified. Most of the fuel for combat training will be delivered to the military transport aviation's combat application and flight personnel retraining center located in Ivanovo.
The military transport aviation is fully manned, the commander said. "100 percent of military transport aviation crews have the required training level and about 90 percent the required fitness level, though our fuel limits are still insufficient," Denisov noted.
Speaking about the state of aircraft, the general said that all IL-76 Candid and AN-22 Cock planes in the inventory of the military transport aviation fully met requirements of the defense minister's serviceability order. The state of AN-124 Condor planes is generally worse, he noted.