MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. The Russian Pacific Fleet’s ships and vessels have completed their deployment in the Pacific for drills, Commander of the Pacific Fleet’s Primorye Flotilla of All-Arms Forces Rear Admiral Konstantin Kabantsov announced on Sunday.
"The Pacific Fleet’s ships and vessels have completed their deployment in the area of an operational exercise and have started accomplishing tasks today under the scenario of tactical maneuvers as part of the Pacific Fleet’s distant maritime zone taskforce," the commander said.
The taskforce basically comprises ships of the Primorye Flotilla of All-Arms Forces and the Pacific Fleet’s auxiliary vessels. The naval tactical groups have covered a distance of 4,000 km from their naval bases and combat watch areas, the rear admiral said.
As part of the drills, the Pacific Fleet’s forces are practicing command and control of a combined arms taskforce in operations at considerable distances from naval bases, Russia’s Defense Ministry specified.
"Interoperability of the Fleet’s combined arms forces is being exercised from the Marshal Krylov command and control ship (the flagship)," the ministry said.
Specifically, the anti-submarine warfare ship Admiral Panteleyev, the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, the corvettes Gromky, Sovershenniy and Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov and Ka-27PL anti-submarine warfare helicopters practiced detecting and tracking a notional enemy’s submarine. Subsequently, they "edged it out" of the area of the drills, the statement says.
"The drills involve up to 20 surface combatants, submarines and support vessels," the Russian Defense Ministry specified.
The naval maneuvers also involve up to 20 aircraft. In accordance with the training plan, the operational naval exercise of the Pacific Fleet’s combined arms forces is running in the central part of the Pacific Ocean under the direction of Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Sergei Avakyants.