MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Naval aircraft of Russia’s Pacific Fleet and Tu-22M3 strategic missile-carrying bombers held joint drills to destroy a notional enemy’s surface ships and intercept air targets over the Sea of Japan, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"During the drills, a pair of Tu-22M3 missile-carrying bombers simulated delivering a tactical strike by Kh-22 cruise missiles against a grouping of a notional enemy’s surface ships and employed passive jamming measures. In turn, two MiG-31BM fighter jets of the Pacific Fleet scrambled from the aerodrome in the outskirts of Vladivostok and successfully intercepted the bombers," the statement reads.

An A-50 long-range radar surveillance plane was also involved in the drills.

The aircraft were redeployed from their permanent airbases to operational airfields in the Primorye Territory in the Russian Far East for the drills. The maneuvers were held in accordance with the troops’ combat training plan.