Combat training at Russia Kant base held at Peace Mission 2010.

22/9 Tass 105

BISHKEK, September 22 (Itar-Tass) - The general combat training was
held on Wednesday within the framework of the Peace Mission 2010
manoeuvres of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). It was
conducted at the Russian Airbase in Kant. The base commander Oleg Molostov
said that taking part in the drill were warplanes of the Russian Air Force
permanently stations in Kant, and also the Su-24 fighters that arrived
here from the Rostov region.
"Today our base conducted a major training flight with the
participation of the Su-25 and Su-24 fighters," the commander said.
According to him, helicopters of the Russian Air Force that are already in
Kazakhstan are also taking part in the Peace Mission 2010 manoeuvres.
The airbase commander stressed that during the exercise the Russian
and Kazakhstani AF representatives "are drilling interaction in joint
combat" and "the tasks for the Russian and Kazakhstani pilots are the
same." Molostov also noted that bombers from China that will also drill
"interaction on various targets in the general battle order" will also
take part in Peace Mission 2010.
The base commander noted that the unit's renewed personnel, many
servicemen have combat action experience, will for the first time take
part in such large-scale manoeuvres.
Kant is a military air base in Ysyk-Ata District of Chuy Oblast in
Kyrgyzstan. It is located just south of the city of Kant, some 20 km east
of downtown Bishkek. In 1941, a Soviet Air Force base and pilot training
school were set up near the city of Kant, based on a school evacuated from
Odessa.
During World War II, 1507 Soviet military pilots were trained there
and from 1956. The school also trained foreign pilots. Among its graduates
were Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and the late Syrian president Hafez
al-Assad, as well as India's Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh and Yemeni
Brigadier Pilot Shakeeb Khobani. In 1992, following the collapse of the
Soviet Union, control of the air base was transferred to Kyrgyzstan.
In accordance with a bilateral agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan
signed on 22 September 2003, the air base hosts Russian Air Force units.
The official opening took place on 23 October 2003, making the facility
the first new air base Russia opened abroad since 1991. The unit stationed
there has been described as Russian Air Force's 5th Air Army's 999th Air
Base.
-0-ezh/gor