MOSCOW, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Seven countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have began air defense drills, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.
The drills involve up to 100 aircraft, more than 9,000 troops and over 130 command posts of the seven states, namely Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which participated in the CIS integrated air defense system.
Over 40 units of anti-aircraft missile forces allocated to the system are also taking part in the drills.
During the drills, the combat readiness of duty personnel of the CIS air defense system will be tested, it said.
The drills, taking place in the seven states in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, started with an exercise to detect conventional enemy aircraft, it said.
During the drills, the integrated air defense system will demonstrate its capacity to deal with aircraft violating the CIS airspace and hijacked aircraft, as well as to provide assistance to crews of aircraft during accidents, the ministry said.
It did not specify when the drills will be finished.
