Russia's Black Sea Fleet Test Fires Utes Coastal Missile System

Russia's Black Sea fleet said Saturday it tested its Utes coastal missile system, firing two cruise missiles in "the interests of a surface action group."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Utes coastal missile system launched two cruising missiles as part of scheduled drills, the Fleet's Spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev said Saturday.

"The Utes coastal stationary missile system launched two cruising missiles during exercises of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the interests of a surface action group," Trukhachev said.

The spokesman specified that the drills were aimed at collective air defense training.

The Utes missile systems that are located on the Crimean Peninsula, with P-35 cruise missiles, are capable of hitting targets at a distance of 300 kilometers (186 miles). The P-35s are equipped with 560-kilo high-explosive warheads, and the flight speed of the missiles exceeds 2,000 kilometers per hour.

There are currently two missile systems of the kind at the disposal of the Russian Black Sea fleet; each of them has two missile launch containers. Their combat readiness was restored and confirmed by successful launches in late 2016.

The previous drills in Crimea were held last summer; the Russian Black Sea Fleet put its naval and coastal defense units on high alert. The Russian Fleet's impromptu drills came amid Sea Breeze 2017, large-scale Black Sea naval drills co-hosted by the United States and Ukraine involving air, land, naval and amphibious forces.