SEVEROMORSK /Murmansk Region/, April 17. /TASS/. The crews of the small missile ships Aisberg and Rassvet from the Northern Fleet’s Kola Flotilla of All-Arms Forces held drills with artillery firings at coastal combat training ranges in the Barents Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Friday.

"The Aisberg and the Rassvet operating within a surface action group practiced an artillery battle with a notional enemy’s warships at medium and large distances, and also conducted fire against simulated air targets, acting under the scenario of repelling a surprise attack on a naval group by the hypothetical enemy’s fighter-bombers and attack aircraft," the press office said in a statement.

Apart from the artillery firings, the ships’ crews practiced staging passive electronic countermeasures and decoy targets to counter the notional enemy’s precision missile strike, the statement says.

The small missile ships accomplished all the combat assignments in severe weather conditions in a stormy sea. The area of artillery firings was closed for shipping and flights for the time of the drills.

After accomplishing their combat training missions, the small missile ships Aisberg and Rassvet returned to their home station of Polyarny in the Kola Bay, the press office added.

The Aisberg and the Rassvet are the Project 1234.1 (Ovod-1) missile corvettes designated to fight potential enemy ships in inland seas and in the coastal zone. The warships are armed with Malakhit anti-ship cruise missiles, AK-176 and AK-630 artillery guns, Osa-MA surface-to-air missile launchers and electronic warfare systems.

The missile corvettes can operate both as part of a naval task force and solely.