Russian Navy’s Coastal Defense Forces Almost Fully Equipped with Bal & Bastion Systems.

The proportion of advanced military hardware operational with the Russian Navy’s coastal-based forces makes up 96 percent, Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Korolyov said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. This figure was achieved after the coastal-based forces were rearmed with Bal (NATO reporting name: SSC-6 Sennight) and Bastion (SSC-5 Stooge) coastal-based missile systems, he added.

File Picture: 3K60 BAL (NATO reporting name: SS-C-6 Sennight) Coastal Missile System of the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet Coastal Troops seen during its first test launch in Primorye territory.

"In the past several years, the rearmament of the Navy’s coastal-based forces with Bal and Bastion systems has allowed us to bring the proportion of advanced military hardware to 96 percent," Korolyov said.

In the past five years, the share of state-of-the-art rescue equipment has grown by 5.3 times from 13 percent to 70 percent, the commander said.

In the same period, the proportion of advanced aircraft in service with the Navy’s air arm has increased by more than 1.5 times.

3K55 Bastion coastal defense mobile anti-ship missile systems (NATO reporting name: SSC-5 Stooge) of the Russian Pacific Fleet’s missile and artillery brigade. File Picture: Russian Pacific Fleet press service

The Bastion coastal-based system with the standardized Yakhont (Onyx) (SS-N-26 Strobile) supersonic anti-ship homing cruise missile is designed to eliminate surface ships of various types and classes operated by naval assault forces, convoys, ship- and carrier-borne task forces, as well as individual vessels and land-based radio-contrast targets in intense firing and electronic countermeasures environment.

The Bal coastal-based missile system with the Kh-35 (AS-20 Kayak) anti-ship missile is designed to protect and defend territorial waters, straits, naval bases and other coastal-based infrastructural facilities. It can also provide protection against the enemy’s amphibious assault forces.

The system can operate in all weather conditions both in the daytime and at night in firing and radio-electronic countermeasures environment.

© Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.