According to a report in RIA Novosti on April 23, Sergey Babakov, commander of anti-aircraft missile troops of the Russian Aerospace Force, announced that China, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia would participate in the «Sky Key-2016» anti-aircraft missile troops’ operational grouping field training contest (international stage) that was scheduled in early August for the first time.
«The international stage of the ‘Sky Key-2016’ contest will be held in Russia for the first time from August 1 to 13. Troops from Russia, China, Belarus and Kazakhstan are expected to participate in the contest,» RIA Novosti quoted Babakov as saying.
The referee board will comprise experts from Russian air defense academies and representatives from the participating teams. Babakov stressed that the main criteria includes the speed of accomplishing tasks and the speed and accuracy of operational grouping.
The contest would be held at the shooting range Ashuluk in Astrakhan Region, where infrastructures for the contest were being constructed now, Babakov said, adding that the all-Russian stage of the contest will be held from July 1 to 7, from which the best group will be selected to participate in the international stage of the contest.
In the contest, more than 30 S-300 air defense missiles will be launched by the operational groups at various air targets, and competitions will also be held on combat vehicle driving skills, missile loading operations and the speed and quality of re-deploying the anti-aircraft systems at a new location, Babakov said.
