The guided missile cruiser Varyag, the flagship vessel of Russia's Pacific Fleet, arrives at Qingdao Port for the Joint Sea 2019 naval exercise between China and Russia in Qingdao, a port city in East China's Shandong Province, 29 April 2019. Photo: IC
Chinese and Russian navies conducted on Saturday their first ever joint warship-based live-fire missile exercise, as naval vessels from both sides launched surface-to-air missiles and successfully intercepted incoming anti-ship cruise missile dummies.
The exercise was part of the Joint Sea-2019 China-Russia naval drills in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, which marked a new high in coordination and trust between the two navies. The six-day drills ended on Saturday afternoon.
The air defense exercise started around 12:40 pm on Saturday, when the blue team fired two anti-ship cruise missile dummies at the red team, according to a statement the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy sent to the Global Times.
Upon their approaches, the PLA Navy's destroyer Harbin and Russian Navy's anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs of the red team launched a short-range surface-to-air missile each and successfully intercepted the two incoming threats.
This is the first time the PLA Navy has conducted such an exercise with a foreign counterpart, the statement said.
Anti-ship cruise missiles pose huge threats to warships due to factors including high speeds and low trajectories, a military expert who requires anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday, noting that intercepting them is a crucial subject in modern naval warfare.
Missiles are the core weapons for warships in both offense and defense, said Wang Rui, an assistant director of the exercise, noting the drills required not only close coordination between the two navies' ships and command organs, but also mutual opening up of each other's weapon specifications, as the drills helped boost the two navies' capability to deal with naval threats together.
The red team also simulated a tanker escort operation, using missiles and guns to defend against fighter bombers of the blue team, the statement said.
The Joint Sea-2019 also saw successful submarine rescue exercises between the two countries' submarines and deep submergence rescue vehicles on Thursday.
Du Changyu, a PLA Navy rescue team officer, told the Global Times on Friday that rescue forces are a powerful means for the Chinese Navy to go global.
The submarine rescue exercises with the Russians proved the Chinese military is fully capable of shouldering its international responsibility and obligations, Du said, noting that the PLA Navy has the resolve to complete international rescue missions and is also capable of working together with other countries.
Joint anti-submarine drills, main gun shooting drills and friendly competitions were also held during the exercise.
