Union Shield – 2011 () was a joint

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian

military exercise A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in Military education and training, training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of ...

that took place from 16 to 22 September 2011.

Background

Russian Defence Minister

Anatoliy Serdyukov Anatoly Eduardovich Serdyukov (; born 8 January 1962) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was Russia's Minister of Defense from 15 February 2007 to 6 November 2012, and made several major reforms in the Russian military. He has worked a ...

officially announced that the joint military exercise "Union Shield" is to take place in September 2011 after the meeting with his counterparts - Mykhailo Yezhel (the Ukrainian Defence Minister) and Yuri Zhadobin (the Defence Minister of the Republic of Belarus), which was held in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, April, 2011.

Exercise planning

The concept for the exercise was being developed jointly by the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

General Staffs, with input from the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

Western Military District The Western Military District () was a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia, in existence from 2010 until its abolishment as a unitary military command on February 26, 2024, succeeded by the newly reconstituted Moscow Mil ...

staff. The exercise will be held at the Gorokhovetskiy

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

in Nizhniy Novgorod Region and Ashuluk Range in

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

Region. The decision to conduct the drills in

was made due to the scale of planned exercise. The size of abovementioned territories should allow the participants to accomplish the full range of tasks. The officials pointed out that the decision to hold the Union Shield-2011 exercise in

away from borders with NATO member-states was made in order to show the transparency of the

Union State The Union State is a supranational union consisting of Belarus and Russia, with the stated aim of deepening the relationship between the two states through integration in economic and defence policy. Originally, the Union State aimed to crea ...

's peaceloving policy and to confirm the defensive nature of the Russia-Belarus Regional Group of Forces. The Russian part of the regional group of

troops A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a Squadron (cavalry), squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section (military unit), section or platoon. Exception ...

were led by Col-Gen Arkadiy Bakhin, commander of troops of the Western Military District. The Belarusian part were led by Maj-Gen Pyotr Tikhonovsky, Chief of the General Staff, First Deputy Defence Minister of Belarus.

Scope

The military exercise involved approximately 12,000 servicemen, among them 7,000 from

and 5,000 from

, as well as up to 50

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

s and

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s and 200 units of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

hardware, including 100

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s. According to the official information, the

exercise Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...

was aimed at improving

combat readiness Combat readiness is a condition of the armed forces and their constituent units and formations, warships, aircraft, weapon systems or other military technology and equipment to perform during combat military operations, or functions consistent ...

of the Belarus-Russian regional joint force, as well as raising interoperability between commanders, staffs and units of the two countries. During the active stage of the manoeuvres, at the Ashuluk testing ground, the aerial part of the training will be conducted, which will involve complex engagement of RJF's air-defence and

ground forces An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...

as part of the unified regional air defence system of Russia and Belarus. The Belarusian troops are redeployed to the Russian firing ranges by rail and air. One of the exercise's peculiarities was the participation of

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

s from the Belarusian Military Academy and the military department of the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics as junior commanders. Participating in the manoeuvres, the cadets had an opportunity both to solidify their

theoretical A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

knowledge Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is oft ...

and get practice in exercising command and control over

units Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...

, which they were assigned to.

Ukrainian participation

Following a meeting with Russian Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov and Belarusian Defence Minister Yuri Zhadobin in April, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Yezhel said that

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

will join the Russian-Belarusian military exercise “Union Shield 2011”. Yezhel said Ukraine will study the drills in detail, paying particular attention to Belarus’s army reform. He added

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

should take the best advice and information Russia and Belarus have to offer and incorporate it at home. On the 25 August, Russian Armed Forces' General Staff Chief Gen. Nikolai Makarov had said that this year, for the first time in the post-Soviet era, an airmobile unit of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

took part in the joint maneuvers Union Shield – 2011. He also noted that Russia and Ukraine participate in the annual joint naval exercise Farvater Mira (Fairway of Peace) and it's time for two countries to go to a new level of co-operation.Kyiv Post. Independence. Community. Trust - Ukraine - Ukraine to take part in Russia-Belarus joint maneuvers
/ref>

Medical support

First aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

during the exercise was provided by a Special purposes medical detachment. It was equipped with a modularized

combat support hospital A Combat Support Hospital (CSH, pronounced "cash") is a type of modern United States Army field hospital. The CSH is transportable by aircraft and trucks and is normally delivered to the Corps#United States, Corps Support Corps area, Area in s ...

with a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

ized deployment process. It included various modules - consultative/diagnostic,

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

module, antishock module, lab module. Ambulatory and special care were carried out in the

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned or operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a m ...

, which is situated in Mulino, Nizhniy Novgorod Region. Exercise planners deployed more than 400 medical workers, 50 medical transportation units, including aeromedical transportation units.

Notes

External links

* http://www.peacekeeper.ru/en/?module=news&action=view&id=13208 {{DEFAULTSORT:Union Shield - 2011 Military exercises and wargames