MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - The Russian Pacific Fleet is conducting an exercise in Kamchatka to practice destroying units of ships of a hypothetical enemy using Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems, the fleet's press service said in a statement on Monday.
"During the practical actions on the site, mobile launch systems for the exercise are deployed on the coast, where the troops are training to strike a hypothetical enemy's units of ships using electronic rocket launches," the statement said.
The military are practicing putting the launch systems on combat readiness and camouflaging them.
The exercise involves over 200 troops and 50 units of motor and special equipment of the unit, the statement said.
The Bal system was put into service in 2008. It is included in the coastal defense forces and is intended for the protection of the territorial waters, naval bases, coastal infrastructure facilities, and antiairborne defense of the coast. The Bal is equipped with an Kh-35 (3M24) antiship missile. Its hitting range is 120 km with an Kh-35E missile and 260 km with an Kh-35U missile.
The antiship missile system Bastion is equipped with the supersonic self-navigating antiship system Onyx.
The Bastion is designed for protection of a sea coast longer than 600 km and hitting surface ships of various classes and types that are part of airborne units, convoys, ship and aircraft carrier attack groups, as well as sole ships and ground radiocontrast targets in a situation of intensive fire and electronic counteraction.
Bastion systems have been deployed in all fleets of the Russian Navy (including on the Kuril Islands). The Russian army is expected to receive four systems annually until 2021.