SEVASTOPOL, February 26. /TASS/. The Black Sea Fleet’s Bal and Bastion mobile coastal defense missile systems eliminated a notional enemy’s ship during drills in the Black Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

The teams of the coastal defense missile systems stationed in the Crimea and the southern Krasnodar Region performed marches to positioning areas and practiced the algorithm of measures to deploy, prepare for combat employment, equip and camouflage their positions, the press office said in a statement.

"The exercise took place in accordance with the plan of the Fleet’s combat training. The Black Sea Fleet frigate Admiral Makarov simulated an enemy warship," the statement reads.

The coastal defense troops employed the radars of Bal and Bastion systems to detect a surface target, identify it and lock it on. Meanwhile, the crew of a Su-24MR reconnaissance plane from the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation and air defense forces reconnoitered the situation and transmitted the data on the enemy warship’s location, according to the statement.

By comparing all available reconnaissance data, the combat teams of the Bal and Bastion coastal defense missile systems "delivered a retaliatory strike against the notional enemy’s warship" by electronic launches, after which they "fulfilled procedures within the required time limits to change launch positions with a repeat of notional missile strikes," the press office added.

Overall, the drills involved about 20 weapon systems and about 200 personnel of the Bal and Bastion mobile coastal defense anti-ship systems, the statement says.

Bal and Bastion coastal defense systems

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.

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.

Helicopter drills

During the frigate Admiral Makarov’s deployment to the Black Sea, the crew of a Ka-31R reconnaissance helicopter of the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation and air defense forces practiced flights from its deck, the press office reported.

Also, the shipboard crews providing for the flights of the Ka-31R reconnaissance helicopter held an exercise to check the smooth operation of all the systems of the frigate’s aviation compound. During the drills, the helicopter’s crew made about 20 take-offs and landings on the ship’s deck, the press office informed.