A full-dress rehearsal for the upcoming military parade dedicated to the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War has taken place on Moscow’s Red Square.
The rehearsal involved infantry columns consisting of 37 parade units, over 190 pieces of military and special equipment, 76 aircraft and helicopters. In addition, more than 12,000 troops participated in the training. Parade units included officers, sergeants and soldiers from various military formations, students from military universities, the Suvorov and Nakhimov military schools and cadet corps, members of the Yunarmia (or Young Army) All-Russia Movement, as well as units from the Emergencies Ministry, the National Guard and the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Border Guard Troops. Female troops represented by parade units from the Military University, the Military Academy of the Signal Corps, a branch of the Military Logistics Academy and the Air and Space Defense Academy.
The full-dress rehearsal involved the legendary T-34 tanks, the Typhoon armored vehicles, the cutting-edge Typhoon-PVO vehicles, the BMP-3 and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles equipped with the Berezhok combat module and the advanced Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicles. In addition, this year’s Victory Day parade will include several types of tanks, namely the T-72B3M, the T-80BVM, the T-90M and the newest T-14 Armata tanks. The parade will also showcase various artillery and missile systems, air defense systems and special equipment, among them the Iskander-M tactical missile system, the Tornado-S multiple rocket launcher, the Msta-S and Koalitsia-SV self-propelled howitzers, the Buk-M3 and Tor-M2 medium-and short-range anti-aircraft missile systems, the Pantsyr-S anti-aircraft missile launcher, the S-400 missile systems, the BMD-4M and BTR-MDM Rakushka airborne infantry fighting vehicles, the TOS-1A heavy flamethrower vehicles, remote-controlled mine-clearing vehicles, the Yars ICBM launchers, the BTR-82A armored personnel carriers and the advanced wheeled armored personnel carrier based on the Boomerang platform.
The Mil Mi-26 and Mi-8 helicopters, the Mil Mi-35, Kamov Ka-52 and Mil Mi-28N combat helicopters opened the aerial part of the parade’s full-dress rehearsal. They were followed by the Tupolev Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers, the Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling tanker, the Ilyushin Il-76 military transport aircraft, the Sukhoi Su-35S fighters, the Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M bombers. The aerial parade was concluded by the Mikoyan MiG-31K and Sukhoi Su-57 aircraft and plane groups from the tactical wing of the Lipetsk Air Base, and the Kubinka Diamond consisting of the Russian Knights pilot groups flying Sukhoi Su-30SM planes, the Swifts pilot group flying a Mikoyan MiG-29 and six Sukhoi Su-25 jets, which painted the sky the colors of Russia’s national flag.
The Victory Day parade for 2021 will take place on Red Square on May 9.
