In fact, coastal missile troops are somewhat superstitious. For example, they don't shave on the day of missile launches to avoid jinxing the shooting. However, they do shave the day before. In the morning, they don't shave at all. They also have a special attitude towards missiles. While for some, a missile is just a serial "product" with a specific number, it's not the case for Lieutenant Colonel Ravkhat Akhmatdinov, the commander of the tactical missile division of the Northern Fleet's coastal forces. When, to participate in the strategic command and staff exercises (SKSHU) "West-99", his unit, having made a multi-kilometer march, went to the designated position area and began to deploy on the ground, Ravhat Gelmukhanovich ordered among the first tasks... clear the road dirt from the rockets: "Otherwise they will be offended!" And the shooting of the rocket men was going to be unique. For the first time, Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Bogomolov's separate missile regiment was deployed in two position areas, with a direct radar visibility distance of about 100 kilometers. Usually, missile firings by the Northern Fleet's BRAV units were conducted in a single position area, with a maximum distance of 10 kilometers between them. However, during the Zapad-99 exercise, the "coastal" units were tasked with"To complicate matters, two missile divisions (operational and tactical) were deployed on the Rybachy Peninsula, while Lieutenant Colonel Akhmatdinov's unit was stationed near the fishing village of Teriberka, just a few hundred meters from the coast of the Barents Sea. The tactical divisions formed a unified coastal strike group with its command center located on the Rybachy Peninsula, and were tasked with launching missile strikes against the simulated enemy in coordination with the Northern Fleet's ships. The task was ambitious in concept and scale, but it required meticulous coordination between units to ensure its successful execution. From the very first day, Ravkhat ... Читать далее