his year’s Ladoga missile-
firing exercise took part in
the final week of March. It
involved a significant proportion
of the fighter aircrews from the
Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily
Rossiyskoy Federatsii (VKS RF,
Russian Federation Air and Space
Force) regiments in the Western
Military District, which come
under the command of the 105th
Guards Composite Air Division of
the 6th Air and Air Defence Army.
The main aim of this brief
but intense training event is to
refine aircrew skills in the use
of heat-seeking missiles and
cannon against aerial targets.These sorties are flown both
day and night in clear-weather
conditions. Gunnery experience
of this type is a prerequisite to
qualify fighter aircrews for quick
reaction alert (QRA) duty.
The live firing took place
on a temporary gunnery
range, a restricted area set
up over the ice-covered Lake
Ladoga. Aircraft involved in
the training used two airfields:
Besovets near Petrozavodsk
and Khotilovo near Tver.
The huge freshwater lake and
adjacent area offer adequate levels
of safety for employing short-
range air-to-air weapons in whatis otherwise a densely populated
region not far from St Petersburg,
the country’s second largest city.
In March, the surface of the lake is
still covered by ice but that is too
thin for people or vehicles to cross.
At the same time, the frozen mantle
prevents movements by shipping.Parachute target
Only one type of aerial target is
permitted for use over Ladoga
gunnery range – the M-6, which
is dropped from an altitude of
32,808ft (10,000m) and descends
slowly under a parachute. After
release, this 216lb (98kg) bomb
deploys a cable attached to
which are radar reflectors and
a light/heat-emitting flare on
its lower end. The powerful
flare and reflectors render the
target visible to the naked eye,
infrared sensors and radars.
The aircraft’s gun camera records
head-up display (HUD) imagery
to evaluate the accuracy of the
30mm cannon firing against the
parachute target. Missile accuracy
is also graded, with aiming and hits
assessed using the gun camera
and GoPro cameras installed
in the cockpit or mounted on
the aircrew’s GSh-7 helmets.
The active phase of the missile
training continued for threeBelow: This Su-30SM from the 14th
Guards IAP was used to deploy M-6
parachute targets over Lake Ladoga,
dropped from an altitude of 32,808ft.
A second example of the same type
served as a ‘hot’ spare.Flanker live-fi re
Russian warplanes once
again conducted live
weapons training over
a temporary air-to-air
gunnery range above
Lake Ladoga near St
Petersburg. Andrey
Zinchuk and Alexander
Mladenov report from
northwest Russia.T
36 // JUNE 2018 #363 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
Exercise
Report Ladoga 2018