VLADIVOSTOK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian air defense troops will launch 500 anti-craft missiles in Siberian drills to shoot down improvised enemy planes, said Alexander Gordeev, head of the Russian Eastern Military District Wednesday.

"Air dense units will practice by detecting, tracking, identifying and destroying rapid small target missiles. Around 250 target missiles and two cruise missiles will be used to intimate improvised enemy planes, and some 500 anti-aircraft missiles will be used to destroy them," Gordeev said.

The exercise will use anti-aircraft missile defense systems such as S-400, S-300, Tor, Osa, Strela-10 and Pantsir-S, anti-aircraft guns including self-propelled Shilka and MANPADS like Igla, according to Gordeev.

A total of some 8,000 troops and over 1,000 pieces of military hardware are involved in the drills.

The large-scale drills are being held on the Telemba training range in the Republic of Buryatia.

The Eastern Military District is one of the four operational strategic commands of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Headquartered at Khabarovsk, it absorbed the territories of the former Far East Military District and part of the former Siberian Military District.