SEVEROMORSK. Sept 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Naval fighter pilots of the Northern Fleet have started taking off and landing on the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft carrier, headed by Colonel Alexander Shvechenko.
"At the present time the Northern Fleet CVBG (aircraft carrier battle group), heading for the neutral waters of the Atlantic in order to conduct an exercise, has left the storm area, which allows SU-33 Flanker and SU-25UTG pilots to start their training flights," the Northern Fleet headquarters press-service told Interfax News Agency on Wednesday.
The CVBG, which in addition to the Admiral Kuznetsov includes the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser, the Admiral Ushakov destroyer, the Osipov tanker, and two search and rescue tugs, headed by Vice-Admiral Vladimir Dobroskochenko, Deputy Commander of the Northern Fleet, has crossed the Faeroes-Iceland line (between the Faeroe Islands and Iceland).
The Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered cruiser, which is also part of the CVBG, left the battle group for Severomorsk last weekend to transport Vice-Admiral Mikhail Abramov, Commander of the Northern Fleet, to the Severomorsk base.
According to the press-service, the cruiser has once again set sail to catch up with the CVBG in the Atlantic.
The headquarters emphasized that the previous exercise to involve such ships had been conducted eight years before. This time the ships will master cooperation when countering an enemy, while naval pilots will carry out flights from the aircraft carrier, with the exercise to be held in the north-eastern Atlantic.
The Norwegian Marjatta reconnaissance ship, Norwegian patrol aviation, and a U.S. SSBN were reported to be "following" the Northern Fleet CVBG.