SEVASTOPOL, August 9. /TASS/. The Black Sea Fleet’s patrol ships Dmitry Rogachev and Pavel Derzhavin held artillery firings in the Black Sea along with the drills to detect and eliminate a notional enemy’s drones, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

"The patrol ships Dmitry Rogachev and Pavel Derzhavin of the Black Sea Fleet’s Novorossiysk naval base held artillery firings at naval combat training ranges in the Black Sea. In the course of combat exercises, the warships’ crews successfully struck all the surface and aerial targets and held shipborne electronic warfare drills by setting up short-range passive radar interference," the press office said in a statement.

At the first stage of the drills, the warships held an air defense exercise, practicing an algorithm of operations to detect and eliminate a notional enemy’s low-flying small-size aerial targets. Unmanned aerial vehicles operational in the Black Sea Fleet simulated the aerial enemy in the drills, the press office specified.

"Under the scenario of the drills and as part of accomplishing designated assignments at a naval combat training range, the warships’ air defense teams spotted unidentified targets classified as unmanned aerial vehicles. The warships’ air defense systems were readied for their employment. After identifying the aerial objects as the enemy, the air targets were destroyed by the warships’ air defense capabilities," the statement says.

As an episode of the naval maneuvers, the warships’ crews practiced preparing a helipad for a helicopter to land on the deck. In the course of the drills, the fire-fighting teams practiced emergency measures in a helicopter-landing operation, the press office said.

Upon completing the drills, the crews returned to their home naval base and switched to operations in accordance with the plan of the Fleet’s naval taskforces, the statement says.