Story By:  Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor:  Joseph Golder,  Agency: Central European News

This is the moment the Russian Armed Forces flaunts it might with training exercises using unmanned aerial vehicles, tanks and the world’s largest mortar system.

The war games were filmed in a military range outside the city of Orenburg in the south-western Russian region of Orenburg Oblast, bordering with Kazakhstan.

The Central Military District, one of five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, took part in the exercise using unmanned aerial vehicles, tanks, howitzers and truck-mounted rocket launchers.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), scouts used unmanned aerial vehicles to discover a hidden base in the remote region that was interconnected by tunnels.

A MoD statement said: “Attacks on different positions of the enemy’s base took place simultaneously using 152-mm 2S19 Msta self-propelled howitzers and Grad and Uragan multiple rocket launchers.”

The underground tunnels and structures were attacked with the more effective 2S4 Tyulpan, a Soviet 240 mm self-propelled heavy mortar.

According to the MoD, over 250 direct hits were registered against the ‘enemy’.

The 2S19 Msta-S is a 152.4 mm self-propelled howitzer, which entered service in 1989 as the successor to the 2S3 Akatsiya. The vehicle is based on the T-80 tank hull, but is powered by the T-72’s diesel engine.

The BM-21 Grad is a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher. BM stands for Boyevaya Mashina (combat vehicle), and the nickname Grad means “hail”.

The BM-27 Uragan is a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher system designed in the Soviet Union. It began its service in the late 1970s, and was its first modern spin and fin stabilised heavy multiple rocket launcher.

The 2S4 Tyulpan is a Soviet 240 mm self-propelled heavy mortar and is the largest mortar system in use in the world today.