SEVASTOPOL, March 11. /TASS/. The Black Sea Fleet ships sank a notional enemy’s submarine spotted by naval aviation aircraft during drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"During the drills, An-26 and Be-12 planes and also Ka-27PL helicopters with sonar stations took to the skies from the naval aviation’s aerodrome. In accordance with the plan of the drills, the pilots were assigned the task of searching for a submarine in the designated area and transmitting the coordinates to the Black Sea Fleet’s naval strike force. Four aircraft and five helicopters were involved in the effort," the press office said in a statement.

The naval strike group included the patrol ship Vasily Bykov, the guard ship Pytlivy, the small anti-submarine warfare ships Kasimov and Eisk and the oceanic minesweeper Zheleznyakov. The submarine Kolpino simulated the enemy during the drills, the statement says.

"During the basic stage of the drills, the naval aviation crews detected the notional enemy’s submarine and transmitted the data to the surface action group. The small anti-submarine warfare ships Kasimov and Eisk detected, locked on and notionally destroyed the underwater target, using the transmitted data," the press office said.