MINSK, 16 October (BelTA) – Recon units are busy looking for assets of the opposing force in the final stage of the Collective Security Treaty Organization tactical exercise Search 2019 [Poisk]. Unmanned aerial vehicles are in use, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Defense Ministry website.
The supervisor of the exercise, Deputy Chief for Combat Control of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Igor Korol noted that the second stage of the exercise is taking place in a complicated tactical situation. The reconnaissance data collected by recon units from CSTO member states will be used to work out a fire for effect plan. The exercise will end with the destruction of the opposing force in line with the plan of the commanding officer of the CSTO collective rapid response forces.
Virtually all the recon units are out on reconnaissance missions now. They will have to be extracted from reconnaissance areas by the end of 16 October. Some of the units will be rerouted to other missions. Once it is done, the acquired data will be acted upon.
BelTA reported earlier that a special exercise Search 2019 [Poisk] involving reconnaissance forces and units of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states is scheduled to take place in four exercise areas – Obuz-Lesnovsky, Domanovsky, Chepelevo, and Osipovichsky – in Belarus on 14-18 October. Military personnel from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the operations group of the CSTO Joint Staff will demonstrate their combat skills during the exercise. About 2,000 military personnel and over 250 units of hardware, including aerial ones, have been deployed for the exercise.
Taking part in the Search 2019 exercise are reconnaissance forces of the CSTO collective rapid response forces, all kinds of reconnaissance forces from various units of the Belarusian army as well as personnel of the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry.
The exercise focuses on organizing and carrying out reconnaissance actions in the course of localizing a near-border armed conflict in the CSTO's Eastern Europe collective security region. The personnel are busy preparing and deploying reconnaissance forces into designated areas by land, by air, and by other means. The organization of ambushes is practiced as well as the blocking of illegal armed forces and the liberation of populated localities.
The main purpose of the exercise is to improve cohesion of recon forces and command and control units in the course of carrying out missions. The tactical exercise Search 2019 is part of the strategic exercise Combat Brotherhood 2019.
