The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) war game, dubbed Rubezh 2022 (Frontier 2022) that involved about 1000 military personnel along with more than 300 pieces of military hardware, including SU-25 fighters, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), closed at the Harbmaidon training ground in Tajikistan’s southern Khatlon province on October 21 with a final phase featuring live-fire missions. The active phase of the war game lasted from October 17 through October 21.
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, military contingents of Central Asia’s member nations of the CSTO as well as operative groups of the CSTO Joint Staff and CSTO Secretariat participated in the drill.
Russian Su-25 fighters reportedly supported from the air the Central Asian region's Collective Rapid Deployment Forces in the joint drill. In the course of the active phase of the training, aircraft crews participated in searching for and destroying enemy targets by carrying out airstrikes on “enemy” positions at the training range.
The exercise that was launched on October 10 was conducted for units of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) of the Central Asian region of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) mainly aimed to improve the practical skills of officials of the command and control bodies of the troops and increase the coherence of the units in implementing tasks during a joint operation.
Besides, the Organization will conduct a joint business game in 2021 under the leadership of the CSTO secretary-general.
The Collective Rapid Reaction Force is a joint combined arms task force comprising independent military units from the Collective Security Treaty Organization member nations.
CRRF currently comprises following units: Russia — 98th Guards Airborne Division (Ivanovo) and 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade (Ulyanovsk); Kazakhstan — 37th Separate Air Assault Brigade (Taldykorgan) and Marine forces battalion; Belarus — Spetsnaz brigade; Armenia — infantry battalion; Kyrgyzstan — infantry battalion; and Tajikistan — infantry battalion. The total strength of CRRF is reportedly more than 17,000 servicemen.
The first joint exercises of CRRF were held in October 2009 at Matybulak firing range in Kazakhstan near the border with China.
Founded in 1992, the Collective Security Treaty Organization is a Russia-led military alliance currently grouping the six former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
