SEVASTOPOL, September 27. /TASS/. Troops of the Russian Black Sea Fleet practiced landing onto the coast and defending coastal positions during drills on the Crimean Peninsula, the Fleet’s press office reported on Friday.
"A force-on-force brigade-level tactical exercise involving troops of the Black Sea Fleet’s army corps has come to an end at the Opuk multi-service training range in Crimea," the press office said in a statement.
The exercise involved over 3,000 personnel and the Fleet’s 12 ships and support vessels, including the frigate Admiral Essen, the small missile ships Vyshny Volochyok and Mirazh, the large amphibious assault ship Orsk, about 300 items of military hardware, such as Bastion, Bal and Bereg anti-ship missile systems, Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, and also 30 aircraft and helicopters from the Black Sea Fleet’s and the Southern Military District’s naval aviation and air defense forces," the statement says.
At the first stage of the drills, the troops went on alert and performed a march from their permanent bases to the practice range. At the second stage, which took place at the training range, the marine infantry supported by the army aviation of the Southern Military District boarded the large amphibious assault ship Orsk and landed an assault force onto the coast’s rough terrain.
The notional enemy’s forces simulated by the servicemen of a coastal defense formation of the Fleet’s army corps defended the assigned coast area with the attached artillery and the airborne assault force. All the units that took part in the exercise received positive marks from the drill’s command.