SEVASTOPOL, November 21. /TASS/. A group of the Black Sea Fleet’s warships led by the missile frigate Admiral Essen repelled a notional enemy’s air attack during drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"At the first stage of the drills, the crew of the frigate Admiral Essen practiced the algorithm of measures to detect air targets, apportion them among the tactical group’s ships and simultaneously destroy them," the press office said in a statement.

"A pair of Su-30SM multirole fighters from the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation and air defense forces simulated the notional enemy. During the drills, the ‘enemy’ aircraft were notionally destroyed while the sailors demonstrated the high level of inter-operability between the combat air defense posts aboard the ships within the naval group," the statement reads.

After that, the ships’ crews practiced operations as part of tactical groups to search for and destroy an adversary submarine and also performed an electronic launch of a Kalibr cruise missile against the notional enemy’s coastal command post, the press office said.

The drills involved more than 10 warships and support vessels, including the small missile ships Vyshny Volochyok and Orekhovo-Zuyevo, the large amphibious assault ship Azov, the mine countermeasures vessel Ivan Antonov, the oceanic minesweeper Turbinist, the missile gunboat Ivanovets and the rescue tug SB-5.

The Admiral Essen represents a new series of Project 11356R/M frigates (the Project 11357 designation is also used). These frigates are designed to destroy enemy surface ships and vessels, submarines and ground installations, carry out patrols and defend sea lanes.

The frigates of this Project are armed with eight launchers of Kalibr-NK cruise missiles that are capable of striking surface, coastal and underwater targets at a distance of up to 2,600 km.

The warships of this Project are also armed with Shtil-1, Palash and AK-630M air defense missile and artillery systems, A-190 100mm universal artillery guns, torpedo tubes and RBU-6000 rocket launchers. The frigates also have a take-off and landing strip and a hangar for an anti-submarine warfare helicopter (Ka-27 or Ka-31).