In the Krasnodar Territory, at the Molkino training ground, a joint exercise of the RF Armed Forces and the servicemen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has ended, the press service of the Southern Military District (YuVO) reports.
The maneuvers took place from September 28 to October 9.
"The exercise ended with joint actions for airborne assault from a MI-8AMTSh" Terminator "helicopter, storming the city and evacuating the wounded using an armored personnel carrier," the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense says.
In the maneuvers, Russia was represented by servicemen of special forces and engineering and assault units of the 49th combined-arms army of the Southern Military District.
The doctrine was of an anti-terrorist nature.
In particular, the servicemen of the two states practiced various methods of countering illegal armed formations (IAF).
"Engineer special forces"
The main goal of "Friendship-2021" was to improve the ways of interaction when performing a wide range of tasks.
Particular attention was paid to practicing combat skills in urban conditions and the use of a "consolidated assault company" in the liberation of settlements and objects captured by illegal armed groups.
So, for the first time, the engineering assault units of the Southern Military District were involved in the exercises.
According to the scenario, their task included demining routes for the advancement of special forces groups of Pakistan and Russia and clearing the way for servicemen to escape from non-explosive obstacles.
According to legend, the theater of operations (theater of operations) was an urban area.
“Along the paved path to the first floor of the building, special forces soldiers moved forward, surrounded the facility and seized the building with hostages.
After the hostages were released and taken to a safe place, the special forces proceeded to clean up the building from conditional terrorists, ”the press service of the Southern Military District said.
From the materials of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, it follows that the engineering and assault units can be called the special forces of the engineering troops (IV) of the Russian Federation.
As their chief, Lieutenant-General Yuri Stavitsky, said earlier, "such units are staffed mainly by athletes fit for health reasons, with high physical capabilities, with a hardened character."
According to the commander, the engineering and assault units must ensure the "unhindered advance" of motorized rifle troops through the enemy's territory.
From the point of view of Stavitsky, the activity of ground attack planes will allow "to significantly increase the effectiveness of combat operations and at the same time to avoid losses as much as possible."
It is believed that the "engineering special forces" of the Russian army are adapted to perform tasks in conditions of enemy fire.
Engineering assault units must be able to liberate buildings captured by the enemy, fight in basements, tunnels and other confined spaces, overcome rubble, minefields, fortified areas and other obstacles that impede the advancement of a ground group of forces.
Soldiers of the engineering assault unit
Facebook
© @ mod.mil.rus
The first such formation appeared in the structure of the RF Armed Forces in 2015 in Murom (Vladimir region).
There was created a battalion of assault and defended engineering troops.
As Stavitsky explained at the time, "the experience of the Chechen campaign has shown that the absence of such units negatively affects the outcome of the battle."
Experts interviewed by RT believe that the assault engineering units are intended primarily for the city's theater of military operations.
In their opinion, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation takes into account the experience of not only the Chechen campaign, but also modern local conflicts, which have demonstrated the need to improve the tactics of conducting battles in populated areas.
“As you know, in a city every quarter can be a fortified area.
Almost any convoy, military equipment runs the risk of becoming an easy prey for enemy infantry - getting ambushed, becoming a victim of minefields.
Naturally, the troops need solid cover.
As far as I understand, in this field, the engineering and assault divisions have just the main role, ”Dmitry Kornev, founder of the Military Russia portal, said in a conversation with RT.
According to the expert, the process of strengthening the engineering troops is also observed abroad due to the formation of units capable of storming buildings, waging battles in confined spaces, destroying enemy fortifications and conducting mine clearance while under enemy fire.
“We are really talking about a kind of engineer or engineer special forces, the functionality of which allows to approximately equal extent to carry out the tasks of eliminating enemy infantry and carrying out the entire range of work inherent in the engineering troops.
Similar units are now appearing in the West, but for Pakistan, as I think, this is definitely a novelty, ”Kornev said.
According to the specialist, another task of the attack planes is to carry out sabotage, including outside the settlements.
Kornev recalled that on one of the first days of Friendship-2021, the participants in the exercises destroyed the disguised command post of illegal armed groups, which was located in a wooded mountainous area.
As previously reported by the press service of the Southern Military District, "the special forces secretly installed charges with a total mass of more than 10 kg in TNT equivalent and detonated at a remote distance."
After the liquidation of the facility, Russian military personnel demonstrated to their Pakistani colleagues how to make homemade mines, how to conceal them, detect and neutralize them.
In addition, the Russians demonstrated to foreign guests the skills of working in the so-called "smart home" - a room where, as stated in the materials of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, "all objects are mined: the front door, the window leaf, the threshold of the house, the bell, the wardrobe, the kettle and other household items. ".
The essence of the training was to find the documentation without touching the mined objects.
Practicing the assault on a building by servicemen of the RF Armed Forces
© Ministry of Defense of Russia
“Smart Home” is a novelty of exercises.
It is built for the practical training of special units.
When, for example, a special forces group is tasked with clearing an object from a conditional enemy and finding important documents in it, servicemen can touch mined objects.
We conduct classes and show real situations, ”the press service of the Southern Military District quotes Colonel Roman Bessmertny, head of the engineering service of the Southern Military District.
As Dmitry Kornev suggests, the “smart home” exercise appeared as a result of an analysis of the experience gained in the Syrian operation, during which retreating terrorist detachments massively mined residential buildings, schools, hospitals, warehouses, and industrial enterprises.
It was the Russian engineering troops that played an important role in demining the cities of the Arab republic.
For several years now, the training complex of the International Mine Action Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Nakhabino near Moscow has had mined rooms that simulate the objects of militants.
The servicemen who participated in the demining of settlements in Syria gave reporters numerous examples of how the militants practiced the most sophisticated methods of planting explosives: doorbells, books, toys, medical syringes, fire extinguishers, stones, tires, and various shiny objects were disguised as mines.
In an interview with RT, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin said that one of the features of local armed conflicts is mass mining during retreat.
In this context, smart home helps to develop skills that enable military personnel to enter and operate in unsafe premises.
“The practice of almost continuous mining during withdrawal is not new, but now additional threats have arisen in connection with terrorism.
The militants do not hesitate to set insidious traps, from which both military and civilians can suffer.
Now the military is obliged to learn to recognize explosives in objects that do not arouse any suspicion at first glance, ”Litovkin added.
Weapons and experience
According to the press service of the Southern Military District, in addition to mastering the tactical techniques used by the Russian army, at the training in the Krasnodar Territory, the Pakistanis had the opportunity to get acquainted with a number of samples of products of the domestic military-industrial complex.
In particular, Russian weapons and equipment were handed over to foreign guests.
On September 29, Pakistanis used the Uran-6 Russian robotic demining complex (RTC).
It was used for the first time on the Druzhba maneuvers.
The autonomous vehicle overcame mine-explosive obstacles and eliminated the danger of detonation at several objects.
Servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and Pakistan at the Druzhba-2021 exercise.
© Ministry of Defense of Russia
Also, the Pakistanis performed tasks using BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, modernized Dragunov sniper rifles (SVD-M), AK-74M assault rifles, and improved Pecheneg-M (PKP-M) machine guns of 7.62 mm caliber.
On October 8, during the exercise of the assault on the militant base at the Molkino training ground, the Pakistani military could observe the work of the crews of the Ka-52 reconnaissance and attack helicopters and the Mi-8-AMTSh "Terminator" multipurpose rotorcraft.
"The advancement of special forces and equipment (to the conditional base of illegal armed groups. -
RT
) through mined terrain, forest debris was provided by the engineers of the Southern Military District with the use of the latest robotic complex Uran-6, the engineering machine for the clearing of IMR-2 and the installation of mine clearance UR-77", - reported in the materials of the Southern Military District.
In a conversation with the Russian military, the captain of the Pakistani Armed Forces Hamad bin Hasib said that he "really liked the Russian weapons" and thanked his colleagues from the 49th Combined Arms Army for demonstrating their skills in combating illegal armed groups.
Viktor Litovkin believes that Islamabad has considerable interest in Moscow's rich experience in counter-terrorism operations.
In turn, Russia, thanks to the annual Druzhba exercise, gets the opportunity to demonstrate weapons that Pakistan can buy in the future, says the source of RT.
“Since 2017, Pakistan has been a full member of the SCO, an organization focused on strengthening security in Eurasia and fighting terrorism.
"Druzhba" helps to exchange experience, because the Russians are also likely to learn something from the Pakistanis, especially if the exercises take place on their territory.
In my opinion, such interaction is mutually beneficial, ”Litovkin emphasized.