KALININGRAD, June 6. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet’s Bastion coastal defense missile systems wiped out a notional enemy’s warships during a tactical exercise in Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.
"During the drills, teams of Bastion coastal defense missile systems conducted electronic launches by Oniks anti-ship missiles against notional targets in the Baltic Sea simulating a hypothetical enemy’s naval group," the press office said in a statement.
Data recorders confirmed the destruction of the designated targets, it said.
During the drills, Bastion mobile missile launchers were deployed in the designated area with equipped positions after a multi-kilometer march. Pursuant to the instructions received, the missile crews stealthily changed their firing positions after conducting electronic launches against the simulated enemy’s warships, it specified.
In accomplishing missile launches, the Bastion missile system crews also dealt with the objectives of camouflaging equipment and carrying out anti-saboteur measures at the places of their combat duty, the press office said.
The drills involved about 50 personnel and up to 10 pieces of military hardware, it said.
Combat teams of the Baltic Fleet’s Bastion coastal defense missile systems are on constant combat alert to protect and defend the regional coastline and Russia’s exclusive economic zone in the Kaliningrad area, the press office said.
The Bastion is a coastal defense missile system designed to strike enemy surface ships of various classes and types making part of amphibious assault forces, convoys, surface action and carrier strike groups, and also sole warships and ground radiocontrast targets under intensive fire and jamming.
A Bastion missile launcher carries Oniks supersonic missiles with a firing range of 300-500 km, according to various sources. The launch interval is 2.5 seconds. An Oniks missile flies at 2.5 times the speed of sound.