As it does every September, the Ukrainian Air Force staged a large-scale exercise this year, the latest such maneuvers drawing front-line units to the base of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine. WHILE THE FOCUS of the exercise has traditionally been on air-to-air missile live-firing campaigns by MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters, primarily using the air bases at Belbek and Kirovskoe, a new challenge awaited the Ukrainian pilots this fall, as they were required to demonstrate their interaction with other types of weapons such as tanks and artillery. Accordingly, almost all the active combat aircraft units of the Ukrainian Air Force sent equipment to the base at Ivano-Frankivsk, near Lviv, for the three-week Exercise 'Autumn Exam 2013', the objective of which was to assess the effectiveness of the command of military units in joint operations.
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