Russian Caspian Flotilla ships practice air defense exercise near Caucasus.

According to information published by Tass on March 2, 2022, as many as 10 ships of the Caspian Flotilla have practiced air defense in Dagestan, the Southern Military District’s press office said.
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Russian Project 11661 frigate Dagestan (Picture source: Russian MoD)

The exercise involved 10 small missile ships, small artillery ships, and boats, minesweepers.

The servicemen detected unidentified aerial targets and repelled attacks of a simulated enemy’s air-launched weapons, the press office said.

While accomplishing the combat training mission, radio observation systems detected the simulated enemy’s aircraft flying to the base. The crews deployed air defense systems, analyzed and collected data on the air situation. Operators of the combat posts classified aerial targets, which were notionally eliminated with shipborne air defense missile and artillery weapons.

The Caspian Flotilla is the flotilla of the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea and is consists of, among others, the Gepard-class guard ship Dagestan (Project 11661), the flagship of the Caspian flotilla, and the Buyan-M-class small missile ships Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich, and Veliky Ustyug (Project 21631).

The Russian Gepard-class frigates (Project 11661) is a class of frigates that were intended as successors to the earlier Koni-class frigates and Grisha, and Parchim-class corvettes.

The Buyan class, Russian designations Project 21630 Buyan and Project 21631 Buyan-M, are series of corvettes (small artillery and missile ships in Russian classification) developed by Zelenodolsk Design Bureau for the Russian Navy.