Russian airborne forces, in cooperation with military transport aviation, parachuted a battalion of the latest BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles during practical actions of the main stage of the Zapad 2021 joint strategic exercises at the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
"The parachuting was carried out from 21 Ilyushin Il-76MD aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces at a time targeting two landing sites at minimum lateral intervals between the aircraft with altitude differentiation from 800 to 1,100 meters. The manoeuvre was conducted under the cover of multi-purpose Sukhoi Su-35S fighters," spokespeople for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation told reporters Monday.
Twenty paratroopers from India performed the combat mission together with the Russian paratroopers. The Indian servicemen landed on their parachute systems in combat formations of the Russian airborne battalion.
In total, more than 300 servicemen of the Russian Airborne Forces, 20 servicemen of India and more than 30 state-of-the-art BMD-4M airborne assault vehicles were parachuted as part of the operational-tactical landing mission.
In total, up to 200,000 troops, about 80 aircraft and helicopters, up to 760 units of military equipment, including 290 tanks, 240 guns, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, as well as up to 15 ships take part in the war games.