During the initial phase of the exercise it had dropped its paratroopers, together with their newly issued BMD-4 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles. These were armed with the powerful 100-millimeter, 2A70 low-pressure rifled gun; a 30-millimeter 2A72 coaxial auto cannon, capable of firing high-explosive fragmentation rounds; and laser-guided anti-tank missiles, as well as its 7.62-millimeter PKT coaxial machine gun.

“That’s an impressive bit of kit,” said Balderis, turning to Morland. “I did two years as a conscript with Soviet airborne troops and the Russian airborne troops are good. Never forget, the Russians invented airborne forces. They’re the only airborne troops in the world equipped with integral armored vehicles. The BMD-4 can be parachuted direct from an Il-76 transport plane with the entire crew and passengers sitting inside the vehicle as they float down. That allows for instant target engagement after landing. They literally hit the ground moving and firing. And if that’s not enough, they’ve recently added a company of T-14 Armata tanks to the division to give it extra firepower.”

“And we shouldn’t forget,” added Balderis, raising his voice to the room generally, “76th Guards Assault Landing Division is battle hardened and well led. Its current commander, Major General Aleksei Naumets, was my platoon commander when I was a Soviet conscript and he was a mean bastard even then. It took part in the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and fought in the Donbass. They took casualties. All buried in Ukraine to avoid negative publicity back home. After Afghanistan and Chechnya, the Russians liked the sight of returning body-bags no more than the Americans. But these guys are good soldiers. And tough as hell . . . They know what they are doing.”

He turned back to Morland. “We’ve been seeing regular incursions by fifteen to twenty Ilyushin Il-76, four-engine, heavy lift ‘Candid’ aircraft flying out of Pskov. That’s easily a battalion’s worth of airborne troops with light armored vehicles. They fly up to the border, alert our radars, and then fly north along the border before heading back to Pskov. They might do that three or four times just to rattle us. It doesn’t. But it shows just how quickly they could get significant numbers of troops on the ground if they wanted to. And, of course, they monitor our response times and positions of our radars.”

“Don’t the Baltic air-policing fighters intercept them?” asked Morland. “I know the NATO nations provide them on a rotational basis to help protect your airspace.”