MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian TU-95MS Bar strategic bombers on Wednesday hit waterborne targets in the Indian Ocean, Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, the head of the press service for the Russian Air Force, told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"During the command-post exercises, two TU-95MS bombers entered a designated area of the Indian Ocean at midday, Moscow time (0800 GMT), and successfully launched two cruise missiles at waterborne targets. The targets were hit," Drobyshevsky said.
"The cruise missiles were launched from the bombers in coordination with Russian warships located in the Arabian Sea," he said.
Nine Russian naval ships are currently in the Arabian Sea, including the missile cruiser Moskva (from the Black Sea Fleet) and the large anti-submarine ships Marshal Shaposhnikov and Admiral Panteleyev (from the Pacific Fleet).
Colonel General Vladimir Mikhailov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, commended the bombers' crews and wished them a successfully return to the Engels airbase, Saratov region, Drobyshevsky said.
The headquarters of Russia's Long-range Aviation told Interfax-AVN that the exercises involved 20 missile-carrying bombers and three fuel-supply aircraft. "On Wednesday, four TU- 160 Blackjack strategic bombers, eight TU-95MS Bears, and eight TU-22MZ Backfire bombers took off. The planes will carry out bombing and missile launches and will practice re-fuelling in midair from three IL-78 Midas tankers," Interfax was told.
The bombers are practicing interaction with other arms and branches of the Russian military, the source said.
The exercises are headed by Mikhailov from the central command post of the Russian Air Force, which is located in the Moscow region.