Russian Army Airborne Units Receive New Verba MANPADS

The Russian army's airborne troops have received the Verba man-portable surface-to-air defense system (MANPADS) with the Barnaul-T automatic control system, a senior military official said Sunday.

Four airborne troop units have been supplied with the latest Verba MANPADS between 2014 and 2015, the Head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Airborne Forces Informational Support Section Evgeniy Meshkov was quoted as saying in various media reports.

"The newest combat equipment was supplied in bundles which included the Verba man-portable surface-to-air defense system with the Barnaul-T automatic control system, as well as a single learning and training set," Meshkov said.

Novorossiysk, Ivanovo, Tula and Pskov airborne units have been supplied with the new equipments, along with computer packages for training and preparing MANPADS specialist operators, Meshkov added.

The Verba MANPADS is ten times more effective in overcoming pyrotechnical glitches that its Igla predecessor, while covering a range two and a half times greater.

Russia is currently carrying out a 19-trillion ruble ($260-billion) rearmament program, announced in 2010, to achieve a 70-percent modernization of its military by 2020.