MURMANSK, July 9. /TASS/. The Northern Fleet’s all-arms strike force led by the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky and supported by Tu-22M3 strategic bombers of Russia’s Aerospace Force delivered a missile strike against a notional enemy’s ships during drills in the Barents Sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.
"The naval strike group consisting of the heavy missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky and the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov conducted practice launches of anti-ship missiles. They conducted the fire with Granit and Vulkan anti-ship cruise missiles against a composite target position that simulated a notional enemy’s naval force and was located at a maximum distance of the firings," the press office said in a statement.
The Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic missile-carrying bombers also delivered a strike from the designated area over the Barents Sea with air-to-surface cruise missiles against the same group of targets located at a distance of over 400 kilometers, the statement says.
The ships and the aircraft conducted the missile firings as part of the Northern Fleet’s naval exercise that kicked off in the Barents Sea and is running under the command of Fleet Commander Hero of Russia Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, the press office said.
The all-arms groupings have already practiced a set of exercises to provide for the combat sustainability of the seaborne strategic nuclear forces, search for and eliminate a notional enemy’s submarines, employ the tactical methods and techniques of striking enemy naval groups, defend the sea coast and protect sea lanes and ensure the security of maritime economic activity, the press office specified.
During the naval exercise, the Northern Fleet’s forces are accomplishing assigned missions in the Barents Sea where they are deployed on an area of over 250,000 square kilometers. More than 30 surface ships, submarines and support vessels, over 20 aircraft and about 40 items of military hardware of coastal defense missile and artillery troops and air defense forces of the Northern Fleet are involved in various stages of the drills.