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More than 100 tanks, rocket launchers and armored vehicles, flanked by 8,000 soldiers, rattled across the tarmac, while sorties of jet fighters ripped through the sky as army generals saluted below.

The display wasn't in communist North Korea or China. It was a practice for a May 9 parade of Russian military hardware on Moscow's Red Square, the first since the Soviet era. The rehearsal took place at Alabino, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Moscow, on an overcast morning and accompanied by a recording of Kremlin chimes.

``When you are dealing with other countries, you should not look weak,'' says Konstantin Fedotov, 82, a retired colonel who took part in the first parade in June 1945 and is one of about 20 veterans watching the rehearsal. ``We have to show that we are not toothless and can react to events against us now.''

President Vladimir Putin has called the end of the Soviet Union a ``catastrophe,'' and when the army crunches the cobblestones in front of the Kremlin next month Muscovites will get another reminder of his efforts to restore Russian power and its symbols. Putin has endorsed a history book lauding Stalin and won popularity by facing up to the West with Cold War-style rhetoric.

The event will mark Victory Day, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. This year, it arrives two days after Putin hands over the presidency to chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev after eight years.

`Military Might'

The display helps the government to justify defense spending as 20 percent of Russians struggle below the poverty line, according to Yevgeny Volk, a Moscow-based analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a U.S. research group.

It also demonstrates Russia's strength while former Soviet republics such as Georgia forge ties with the West. Russia's $1.4 trillion economy has been growing at an annual average rate of more than 7 percent under Putin, driven by energy resources.

``This is a signal to the West that Russia is restoring its military might,'' says Volk. ``There is also a psychological factor, nostalgia among the current elite for Soviet times. It resembles a return to the old days.''

The last exhibition of military hardware on Red Square was on Nov. 7, 1990, the day the Soviets remembered the Bolshevik Revolution. Less than a year later, the Soviet Union collapsed as states like Estonia and Ukraine declared independence.

Next month, Muscovites will watch T-90 battle tanks, S-300 surface-to-air missile launchers and personnel carriers trundle past Lenin's mausoleum up to the multicolored onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral. The generals and politicians will ride in ZIL limousines, the armored car of choice for Soviet leaders.

No Cold War

Putin says the parade is about pride and tradition, not saber-rattling. Russia increased defense spending 22 percent last year alone, to 835.6 billion rubles ($35.8 billion).

The site for the rehearsal was specially built to prepare for the parade, with makeshift podiums and a grandstand where veterans watched and saluted.

From there, troops and their equipment move next week to nighttime drills on the 23,100 square meters of Red Square, sandwiched between the Kremlin and the GUM shopping mall.

``This is beautiful. We have to know where taxpayers' money is going on buying weapons for the army,'' says Vladimir Bakin, the general in charge of the parade. ``If our army is strong, then our state is stable.''

Fedotov, the retired colonel, liked what he saw from his perch in Alabino. He worked in military reconnaissance during the Great Patriotic War, as Russians call World War II, and is keen to make sure the country doesn't get attacked again.

``Parades are a demonstration of power, a demonstration of the army's readiness,'' says Fedotov, in his red-and-gold-trimmed peaked army cap and white scarf to keep out the morning chill. ``The armed forces have to exist.''