Pilots from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China will take part in Aviadarts-2015 international military competition, which will be held this summer at Pogonovo airfield (Voronezh), Rossiyskaya gazeta reports with reference to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian air forces, Viktor Bondarev.
According to him, representatives of another seven countries will take part in the competition as observers. The General believes that interest in such military competitions is growing all over the world. Bondarev forecasts that next year pilots from Armenia, India, Egypt and Pakistan may join the competition.
We remind you that the first Aviadarts competition was held in 2013. Next year Belarusian and Chinese pilots joined their Russian colleagues and Aviadarts was granted the status of the international competition. In the course of the competition pilots and teams compete in accuracy of fire, while hitting ground targets using missiles and cannons. Moreover, piloting skills of the pilots are also judged, in particular, ability to move an aircraft or a helicopter in a given position within the shortest time possible. At that Aviadarts is not a military exercise; it is a military competition.
The Commander-in-Chief spoken about the future of the competition at Pogonovo airfield, where the all-Russian stage of Aviadarts was held in late May-early June. In the network of the competition Russian Ministry of Defense held the “Contract military service is your choice!” event. According to the press-service of Russian air forces, since May 27th over 800 persons visited a mobile center intended for citizens applying for contract military service. Many of them were interested in the contract service, 457 citizens have passed the initial tests and 177 ones filed the corresponding applications to enter contract service. The total number of visitors at the all-Russian stage of Aviadarts exceeded 20 thousand people.
At the airfield journalists asked Bondarev: are the air forces going to establish new aerobatic teams, for example, a team operating Mi-28N Night Hunter helicopters? “In general, we are ready to pilot any type of aircraft or helicopter, but it is rather expensive,” the General explained. He believes that a helicopter pilot must undergo theoretical and practical training courses, including training with the use of flight simulators as well as practice flights, in order to become a member of an aerobatic team.
