WASHINGTON, Nov 10 US Special Operations Forces conducted in the Arctic dropping a long-range missile, calling it a «provocative» action against Russia, according to the Pentagon's Stars and Stripes.
contain Russian aggression, expansive behavior, showing the expanded capabilities of the allies,» Lawrence Melnikov, Lieutenant Colonel of the European Special Operations Command, quotes the publication.
This is how he described the exercise in which a long-range missile was dropped from a bomber by parachute: Europe was shown the Rapid Dragon program, which plans to use standard drop procedures to launch air-to-ground cruise missiles. To do this, they used the Norwegian test site beyond the Arctic Circle, the report says. The range of such missiles is up to 1.9 thousand kilometers. The idea of the exercises is to test the possibility of using the group even in the event of an attack on concentrations of forces, for example, the NATO Ramstein base, the report says.
Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the NATO multinational group near the borders of the country with the participation of troops of non-regional members of the alliance since February has increased by 2.5 times, exceeding 30 thousand people, and may increase further. Also, according to him, the alliance is moving from containing Russia through forward basing to creating a full-scale system of collective defense along the perimeter of the country.