MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The 79th separate missile and artillery brigade led by Colonel Mikhail Bezruchenko and headquartered in the city of Tver will hold a tactical exercise with live firing at the Kapustin Yar proving range in the Astrakhan region, a spokesman for the Moscow military district headquarters told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
The exercise is the first of its kind since the mid-1990s. It will take place from April 16 to 18 under supervision of the district's missile and artillery troops commander Major General Nikolai Frolov. At present units are unloading equipment from trains in the vicinity of the proving range.
The exercise will focus on actions of missilemen in main types of modern combat in the area controlled by a joint-arms army. Live firing of the brigade's units will take place at the final stage of the exercise. Smerch multiple launch rocket systems will be used in the firing.
The Smerch system comprises a combat vehicle made on the basis of a MAZ or Tatra truck with 12 guides, missiles with control systems functioning on the active section of the trajectory, a transport and loading vehicle and an automatic fire control system. The burst of 12 missiles takes 38 seconds. Each missile weighs 800 kilograms, its firing range is 70 kilometers, and belt of fire of a single burst is 67.2 hectares.