In the Black sea under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Russian Federation, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, a joint exercise of the Black Sea and Northern Fleets was conducted with the implementation of missile firing. The exercise involved more than 30 ships, a submarine of the Black Sea Fleet and more than 40 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
In the course of practical actions of aviation, a pair of MiG-31K fighters performed combat shooting with a hypersonic aeroballistic missile “Kinzhal” at a target on one of the training grounds. From the Northern Fleet in the exercise were involved: missile cruiser “Marshal Ustinov”, on Board of which was deployed marching headquarters and carried out the management of forces, as well as a large anti-submarine ship “Vice Admiral Kulakov”.
Also, the combat crews of the coastal missile system “Utes” of the Black Sea Fleet, made two missile launches at targets that simulate the ships of the mock enemy. Utes (Object-100) missiles are situated right on a cliff, with the sea beneath, 50–100 m from sea level, stationed at two firing positions (bunker TEL) alongside the rest of the base facilities. The missile has a range of 300 km and a 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) high-explosive warhead.
The joint ship group in cooperation with the coastal troops and Aerospace Forces worked out training and combat tasks for defeating the ship group of a mock enemy with the use of missile weapons. The exercise was attended by crews of multi-purpose Su-30SM fighters, Su-24m front-line bombers and Tu-95 strategic missile bombers. Unmanned aerial vehicles of the Black Sea Fleet provided continuous visual observation of the exercise.
