7 May Parade Dress Rehearsal

May 9^th Victory Day Parade Moscow 2021

The May 9th Victory Day Celebrations have rolled around again. This is our twelve year covering the spectacle. The parade serves as a preparatory celebration and a national kick-off to the 76th Anniversary celebrations of the Allied victory in Eastern Europe over the Axis Powers set for May 2021. As is traditional, I have booked the John Bull Pub on the 7th May from 10 am to watch the military equipment participating in this year’s Dress rehearsal.

The restaurant opens 2h earlier for our group, so food and drinks will be available from 10am on a cash only basis (no credit cards)

The tanks, armoured cars, self- propelled guns and missiles etc. move to the Red Square at 6 a m, which is too early for most of us! We plan to watch the «tail end Charlies» on their way to the Parade practice and all military equipment returning from Red Square.

We understand over 15,000 personnel, including 3800 crewmen and over 100 ground combat units are scheduled for the ground display, with 76 aircraft (53 planes and 23 helicopters) representing Russia’s aviators. The parade includes a composite female cadet regiment from the Military University of the Ministry of Defence, the Military Logistics Academy and the Military Space Academy, and female honour guardsmen will be marching together with the Corps of Cadets of the Moscow Internal Affairs University, representing the men and women of the Police of Russia, in addition the students of the Moscow Cadet Corps of the Investigative Committee of Russia will be represented. A specialized version of an Aurus Senat armoured limousine is expected to be introduced during the parade

Among the equipment on display are the T90 MBT, the much-modernised T-72B3M Russian army tank and the next gen tank, the T-14 «Armata.» BMP-3 and «Kurganets» infantry fighting vehicles; BTR-82A and «Boomerang» armoured personnel carriers; the S-400 SAM launch system and Buk-M2 mobile tracked SAM system; and the complex units making up the strategic missile system «Yars» will all be paraded through Moscow’s streets.

The air display is a must for any aviation enthusiast.

Overhead, we will see the Tupolev Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’ supersonic nuclear bomber (known as the White Swan to Russian aviators), the iconic (and world’s noisiest!) Tu-95 ‘Bear’, examples of Russia’s ubiquitous bomber – the long-range Tu-22M ‘Backfire’, the Russian Air Force logistics support aircraft including the Ilyushin Il — 78 ‘Midas’ four-engine aerial refuelling tanker, the huge transport aircraft Antonov An-124 ‘Ruslan’ and the mainstay Il-76 MD ‘Candid’ military transporters.

In addition, the exciting aircraft from the Sukhoi and Mikoyan Design Bureaus, including the Su-35S ‘Flanker-E’ (one of the most manoeuvrable aircraft ever built), Su- 30 SM ‘Flanker C’, MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’, MiG-31 ‘Foxhound’, Su-34 ‘Fullback’ and Su-24M ‘Fencer’ front-line bombers, the Su-25 ‘Frogfoot’ ground-attack aircraft, the Mi-26 ‘HALO’ heavy-lift helicopter, the medium transport Mi-8 helicopter ‘HIP’ (one of the world’s most mass produced helicopters in service with 50 air forces) , the Mil Mi-28N ‘HAVOC’ attack helicopter from the Russian Air Force ‘Berkut’ display team, and the Kamov Ka-52 Alligator single seat attack helicopter ‘Hokum B’.

Recent additions to the Russian military arsenal will be displayed in the form of the 44-ton «Terminator» BMPT tank support vehicle. This vehicle positively bristled with weaponry, armed with two 30-mm automatic 2A42 guns, a Kalashnikov 7.62-mm tank machine gun, four launch canisters for 9M120 family guided missiles (the Ataka complex) and two automatic 30mm AG-17D grenade launchers.

We will see the Tor M2 short range SAM system on a Typhoon-K 4×4 wheeled chassis; the general-purpose off road 6×6 Ural 432009 armoured truck and (possibly) the new ‘Patrol-A’ armoured vehicle.

We will occupy strategically located positions at the John Bull Pub restaurant. If you use Google, you can right-click on the page and the text will be automatically translated into English.

The address of the restaurant: Street Krasnaya Presnya 25, bld 1

The restauran also has a childrens’ playroom.

It is 2 min walk from the Ulitsa 1905 Goda Metro station.

This is a PRIVATE party and only those pre-booked will be allowed entrance. All food and drinks will need to be paid for in cash. The restaurant has many windows and if you come in time you will be able to select the best locations — first come first served.

Costs are Adults 1000 roubles per person, Children under 12 y o 500 roubles each.

A Russian Tu-95 Bear ‘H’ photographed from a RAF Typhoon Quick Reaction Alert aircraft (QRA) with 6 Squadron from RAF Leuchars in Scotland.
RAF Typhoon Quick Reaction Alert aircraft were launched from RAF Leuchars to determine the identity of unknown aircraft that approached the NATO Air Policing Area north of Scotland and could not be identified by other means. The aircraft were subsequently identified as Russian military reconnaissance (Bears). The Russian Bears aircraft remained in international airspace as they are perfectly entitled to do.