SEVASTOPOL, May 26. /TASS/. The crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich successfully held missile firings from the Shtil surface-to-air missile system in the Black Sea during joint drills with Utyos and Bal coastal defense anti-ship missile systems, the Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"The live firings were held in several stages, in which over 10 missile launches were conducted from the warship and the coastal defense launchers. Under the drills’ scenario, the combat teams of the coastal defense missile systems were assigned the task of searching for a surface ship and, upon detecting it, conducting missile firings by several Progress and Uran missiles against the sea target," the press office said in a statement.

As the press office specified, the frigate’s crew "detected the air targets, locked them on and successfully struck them at a distance and an altitude safe for the warship, employing the Shtil surface-to-air missile system."

"The results of accomplishing the missile firings, the flight path of the missiles of the Utyos and Bal anti-ship systems and their destruction by the shipborne surface-to-air missile system were registered by unmanned aerial vehicles of the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation and air defense forces," the statement says.

The naval training range and the adjacent waters where the missile firings were conducted were closed off for shipping to ensure security, the press office said.

"About 30 combat ships and auxiliary vessels of the Black Sea Fleet were fulfilling the tasks of closing off the area," the statement says.

The warships like the Admiral Grigorovich represent 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 versatile 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).

The Utyos silo-based coastal defense system is armed with P-35 Progress anti-ship cruise missiles. The system was developed by the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building in Reutov in the Moscow Region (part of Tactical Missiles Corporation). The P-35 anti-ship cruise missile has an operating range of 460 km.

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.