Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense held its first military training work conference for the fiscal year 2022 (December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2022), clarifying the training priorities of various branches of the military and summarizing the training situation. The Russian side stated that the Russian military will continue to increase its training intensity to ensure steady progress in military construction and maintain a high level of combat readiness.

Joint military exercises open the curtain

On the first day of the new fiscal year, the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet's missile destroyer fleet, Admiral Panteleyev, conducted a joint naval exercise with 10 ASEAN countries in the waters surrounding Sumatra in northern Indonesia. The exercise includes tactical maneuvering, battlefield communication networking, and joint verification of suspicious vessels. This is the first joint military exercise between the Russian Navy and ASEAN in history, and also its first joint military exercise in the 2022 fiscal year.

After the exercise, the "Admiral Panteleyev" missile destroyer formation returned to its home port in the Far East. On the way back, the Russian Navy adjusted its formation mission and organized its ships to participate in a joint sea air anti submarine exercise in the Sea of Japan.

At the same time, the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Egyptian Navy held the "Bridge of Friendship 2021" joint military exercise in the southern Mediterranean Sea. The Russian side dispatched escort ships such as Admiral Grigorovich and patrol ship Rogachev. Both sides will focus on conducting exercises on strait control and port defense.

In mid to late December 2021, the Russian Su-35S fighter squadron and air defense unit stationed in Belarus conducted two tactical exercises with the Belarusian Air Force. The exercise includes joint combat patrols and aerial surveillance, joint air defense operations, etc.

The Russian Central Military Region stationed at the 201st base in Tajikistan conducted tactical exercises with the Tajikistan military special operations team against the backdrop of "terrorist forces disrupting local order in Central Asia", and conducted joint drone strike training for the first time.

Tactical training is in full swing

According to the training plan of the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the fiscal year 2022, the Russian military's combat training will enter the "tactical training year".

After the start of the new fiscal year, various branches of the Russian military conducted intensive tactical training. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has deployed a tactical group consisting of submarine units, naval aviation units, and coastal missile defense units, conducting multiple exercises to destroy enemy surface vessel formations, and constructing air defense tactical and anti submarine combat formations during training. Improve the level of tactical group joint operations through targeted training.

Starting from December 2, 2021, the Southern Military Region of Russia organized over 10000 soldiers to conduct combat training at multiple synthetic shooting ranges in Crimea, Rostov, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia. Among them, 1500 tank soldiers conducted field live fire shooting training in desert, mountainous, and jungle environments. Engineering troops, electronic warfare teams, artillery, and tank troops form battalion level tactical groups to practice offensive and defensive tactics in both day and night environments. The press office of the Southern Military Region of Russia stated that large-scale tactical confrontation training will continue until February this year, and Russia will open two new shooting ranges in the Republic of Ingushetia and Volgograd for tactical confrontation training.

The First Tank Group Army of the Western Military Region of Russia conducts joint combat training with other units, using battalions as units, and carries out battlefield rescue training under extremely cold conditions.

The Pacific Fleet of the Russian Eastern Military Region and the 11th Air Defense Group Army of the Aerospace Forces conducted defensive exercises in coastal areas in the form of combat readiness assaults. During this period, the large anti submarine ships "Marshal Shaposhnikov" and "Admiral Trebutz", as well as the missile frigate "Ardar Zidenzhapov", conducted missile launch training.

Steady progress in military construction

On December 1, 2021, all maintenance work for Russian shooting ranges was completed, and weapons and special technical equipment entered winter operation mode.

The Southern Military Region of Russia has launched the APL-500 autonomous field camp for the first time, with each tent in the camp capable of accommodating 500 people. The campsite has strong applicability in the wild, with complete support facilities such as diesel power, air conditioning, showers, and equipped with fire-fighting equipment, plastic tracks, and video surveillance systems. The Russian Ministry of Defense plans to promote such "modular military camps" on a large scale during military training this year.

On December 13, 2021, Russia launched two "Express" communication satellites using the "Proton-M" carrier rocket, further strengthening the network layout in the aerospace field.

In addition, according to the Russian military's military construction plan, in early December 2021, the "Lengbao" shore based anti-ship missile system began to be on 24-hour combat duty in the South Kuril Islands. This missile can strike sea targets within a range of 350 kilometers and land targets within a range of 450 kilometers, and conduct joint defense operations with the S-300V4 air defense missile system previously deployed in the archipelago.

In December 2021, the Russian Aerospace Forces announced the successful completion of the rotation deployment of Su-35S fighter jets between multiple airports in the Far East region, enhancing the familiarity of fighter jets with the combat environment in various directions of the theater.

In addition, at the end of December 2021, Russian President Putin announced that the Russian Navy had successfully conducted a salvo launch of the "Zircon" hypersonic missile, marking a "good start" for the new year's strategic weapon research and development.

Source: Military of Strong Countries