NATO and Russia Stage Rival Air Combat Exercises
(Worthy News)– Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the third major Russian military exercise over the past three months in response to six-member states of NATO beginning military exercises this week over the Arctic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered four days of air combat readiness testing, the third major military exercise staged by the Kremlin in the past three months.
The drills would involve 12,000 troops, 250 aircraft and nearly 700 artillery pieces and other heavy weaponry and include cruise missile strikes at an imaginary enemy target at a Siberian firing range, the Tass news agency reported.
About 100 fighter jets and 4000 military personnel from the United States and eight European countries began exercises over the Arctic on Monday, Norwegian Brigadier General Jan Ove Rygg announced in a statement from Oslo.
The Western manoeuvres that will run until June 5 also include live-fire exercises. They involve six member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – the US, Germany, Britain, France, Norway and the Netherlands – as well as non-NATO states Sweden, Finland and Switzerland. –[wp_colorbox_media url=”http://www.smh.com.au/world/russia-and-nato-stage-rival-air-combat-exercises-20150526-ghad2n” type=”iframe” hyperlink=”Source”]