MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax) - The Russian Bal and Bastion missile systems deployed on the coast in the Kaliningrad region are practicing strikes on maritime targets, the Russian Baltic Fleet's press service said in a statement on Thursday.
"The Baltic Fleet's Bal and Bastion anti-ship coastal missile systems are practicing coastal defense and missile strikes on mock enemy ships as part of a planned tactical exercise at the positioning areas in the Kaliningrad region," the statement said.
The drills involve over 100 troops and more than 15 pieces of military and special hardware, as well as mobile coastal sea and air reconnaissance systems, it said.
The troops are training at deploying military hardware at various positions while redeploying and changing the combat order and location after engagement. The drills include tactical, technical and special exercises to detect surface targets and issue target designations during missile strikes in various conditions, it said.
According to official information, Bastion (designed by Tactical Missiles Corporation's NPO Mashinostroyenia) can protect coastlines of over 600 kilometers. The system has two configurations, road-mobile Bastion-P and silo-based Bastion-S. It is armed with Oniks supersonic homing anti-ship missiles. The ammunition load is up to 36 Oniks cruise missiles.
According to official information, Bal is a highly mobile system capable of rapid redeployment and rapid engagement of its missile weapons. The system operates on a top distance of 120 kilometers any time of the day in any weather. Launchers can be placed in covered positions up to ten kilometers from the shore.