KALININGRAD, August 1. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet’s coastal defense troops held simulated launches of Bal and Bastion missiles to destroy a notional enemy’s naval taskforce during the ‘Ocean Shield’ large-scale drills that kicked off in the Baltic Sea on August 1, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"As part of combat training measures, the personnel of a missile formation performed a march aboard their military hardware to the areas of firing positions where they promptly deployed Bal and Bastion missile launchers to fight a notional enemy’s surface ships and defend the sea coast of the Kaliningrad Region," the press office said in a statement.

The Baltic Fleet’s warships involved in the ‘Ocean Shield-2019’ drills acted as the notional enemy, the statement says.

"After getting the target acquisition, the combat teams performed electronic launches from Bal and Bastion missile systems against the notional enemy’s naval group," the press office specified.

During the drills, the combat teams also practiced the tasks of checking the performance of missile systems and accomplished measures to load and unload the missile launchers’ equipment within the required time limits.

Bastion and Bal coastal defense systems

The Bastion coastal defense system with the standardized Yakhont (Oniks) supersonic homing anti-ship cruise missile is designated to strike various types of surface ships operating as part of amphibious assault formations, convoys, surface action and carrier strike groups, and also sole ships and radar-contrast land targets under intensive fire and electronic counter-measures.

The Bal coastal defense system with the Kh-35 anti-ship missile is designated to control territorial waters and straits, defend naval bases, other coastal facilities and infrastructure and areas vulnerable to amphibious assaults. The coastal defense missile system is capable of operating in any weather conditions, day and night, with its full autonomous guidance after launches, under an enemy’s intensive fire and jamming.