MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - The Merkury corvette of Project 20380 has downed an airborne target with a missile during state trials in the Baltic Sea, the Russian Baltic Fleet said on Tuesday.
"The ship successfully fired a Redut seaborne air defense missile system at the target simulating an anti-ship cruise missile of a mock enemy," the fleet said.
An anti-ship cruise missile fired by the Baltic Fleet's Passat corvette served as the airborne target.
"The air defense missile launched by the corvette successfully hit the designated target. It was fired amid jamming created by the mock enemy's ECM systems," the fleet said.
The maritime range in the Baltic Sea, where the shooting exercise happened, was temporary closed for civilian ships, the fleet said. "About ten ships and support vessels of the fleet supported the trials by ensuring security of the area of shooting and target launch," it said.
It was the final stage of state trials of the Merkury.
The Merkury is a guided missile corvette, the fifth ship of Project 20380 built by the Severnaya Verf shipyard of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (UAC). It is designed for patrolling coastal and distant waters and fighting hostile surface ships, submarines and planes, the fleet said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in early February that the Merkury corvette would join the ranks of surface ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,