Units of a joint air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will conduct live firing August 22 as part of the active phase in a second stage of a joint annual exercise, RIA Novosti reported.

The second stage of the Combat Commonwealth 2007 exercise is being held at the Ashuluk training ground, in Russia’s Astrakhan Region near the Caspian Sea, August 14-22.

It involves live intercepts of dummy cruise missiles by S-300 (SA-10 Grumble) and S-125 (SA-3 Goa) air defense systems and a variety of simulated air missions performed by Su-24 Fencer, Su-25 Frogfoot, Su-27 Flanker and MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft.

"The main purpose of the live firing exercise conducted by air defense units from Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan is to destroy air targets in close coordination as a complex air defense formation, rather than performing their tasks as separate regiments or brigades," Russia’s Deputy Air Force Chief Lieutenant General Vladislav Stytsenkov said.

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and the defense ministers of other CIS countries will attend the live firing exercise in southern Russia.

The third and fourth stages of the Combat Commonwealth-2007 annual exercise will take place at Kazakh and Uzbek training grounds later in August-September and involve Kazakh and Uzbek Air Force and Air Defense units.

Conducted annually, such exercises are part of efforts to build a joint air defense shield for the CIS, a loose association of former Soviet republics. An integrated air defense network was set up by 10 CIS-member countries February 10, 1995, but so far exists only on paper.