Russian coastal defense missile troops wipe out enemy warships in Crimea drills

The teams of Bastion coastal defense missile troops practiced eliminating a hypothetical enemy’s warships during drills on the Crimean Peninsula, the press office of the Russian Black Sea Fleet reported on Friday.

Under the scenario of the drills, battalions of Bastion road-mobile coastal defense missile launchers of the Black Sea Fleet stationed in Crimea and the Krasnodar Region conducted marches to the designated area for accomplishing combat training tasks, the press office said in a statement.

"The troops deployed the launchers, prepared them for combat employment and conducted training (electronic launches) of missiles against naval targets. Apart from searching for and eliminating the hypothetical enemy’s warships, the teams also practiced replenishing ammunition and relocating the launchers to avoid an enemy strike and camouflaging new launch sites," TASS cited the statement as saying.

The drills involve over 40 items of military and special hardware. The maneuvers are running as part of the Black Sea Fleet’s combat training plan, the press office said.

The Bastion coastal defense system with the standardized Yakhont (Oniks) supersonic homing anti-ship cruise missile is designated to strike various types of surface ships operating as part of amphibious assault formations, convoys, surface action and carrier strike groups, and also sole ships and radar-contrast land targets under intensive fire and electronic counter-measures.