Attack robots were used during Zapad-2021 exercise first time: Russian Defense Minister

MOSCOW: Drills to practice new methods of conducting combat operations were central to the Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise Zapad-2021,...

MOSCOW: Drills to practice new methods of conducting combat operations were central to the Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise Zapad-2021, in which some new weapon systems, such as attack robots, were used for the first time, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday.

"Central to the exercise were new forms and methods of conducting combat operations with due regard for the special features of current local wars and armed conflicts. Many things were tested in practice," Shoigu said while reviewing the results of the exercise.

In part, he said that for the first time an airborne battalion of the newest BMD-4M combat vehicles was parachuted at night in bad weather.

"Twenty one Ilyushin-76MD military transport planes parachuted 30 combat vehicles of a new generation," Shoigu said.

Military topographers tested the capabilities of the unified software system Kaleidoskop.

"It allowed for creating a 3D image of virtual combat space, thus making it possible to more accurately study the situation and drastically reduce the time commanders need to make decision," Shoigu said.

For effective fire adjustment and also for meeting the needs of reconnaissance groups unmanned aerial vehicles were used on a wide scale.

"A system of putting out of order a swarm of a hypothetical enemy's attack drones at a distance was employed successfully," Shoigu said.

At proving grounds near Kaliningrad attack robotized systems Platforma-M were used for the first time.

"Remote-controlled tracked robots performed quite well in coping with the task of destroying enemy manpower in urban conditions. At the Mulino proving ground (the Nizhni Novgorod Region - TASS) reconnaissance and fire support robots Uran-9 and Nerekhta were used in the combat formations of combined arms units," Shoigu said.

"Military command and control bodies practiced operation in the field at five proving grounds in Belarus and nine proving grounds in Russia. The Baltic Fleet's forces were dealing with their combat training tasks in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland," he added.