MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax-AVN) - An airborne party comprising 714 servicemen of the 31st detached airborne brigade and several pieces of military hardware has been dropped successfully near the city of Ulyanovsk, Airborne Commander Georgy Shpak said on Friday.
"The landing party and military hardware were dropped near Ulyanovsk in the framework of a command post exercise supervised by Major General Gevorg Asakhanyan, chief of the Airborne Force combat training department. The personnel used parachutes, and combat hardware was dropped on jet parachute systems. The operation was a success, and no emergency situations occurred," Shpak told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The landing party comprised 714 personnel and three BMD-3 airborne fighting vehicles, he noted. "After the landing, units of the brigade will perform a deep raid. They are to capture a vital installation in the enemy's rear by a sudden strike and defend it until the main group of the Land Forces arrives," he said.
Shpak stressed that it is the first planned exercise with practical landing of personnel and hardware from IL-76 Candid military transport planes in the summer training period.