MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 70 warplanes will take part in the command post exercise of the CIS Unified Air Defense System on April 7, the CIS Air Defense Department said on Monday.
"The maneuvers will involve SU-27 Flanker, MIG-29 Fulcrum and MIG-31 Foxhound fighters, SU-25 Frogfoot attack planes, SU-24 Fencer frontline bombers, TU-22M3 Backfire long-range bombers, and an AWACS plane," a department spokesman told Interfax- Military News Agency.
More than 50 various air defense command posts of nine CIS nations and about 200 automobiles will take part in the war games as well. Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Mikhailov will be in charge of the maneuvers.
"The CIS Unified Air Defense System is developing dynamically. Its main mission is to provide reliable protection of CIS aerial borders," the spokesman said.
"With the emergence of NATO aviation in the Baltic states' skies, additional measures, including extraordinary ones, will be taken in the framework of the Unified Air Defense System. We will test them in the near future," he noted.
The CIS Unified Air Defense System incorporates forces and assets of nine countries, these being Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The forces include 19 fighter regiments (11 from the Russian Air Force), 29 air defense missile regiments (11 from the Russian Air Force), 22 radio-technical units (nine from the Russian Air Force), two electronic warfare units (both from the Russian Air Force), and four air defense brigades (all from the Kazakh Air Defense Force).