A maritime blockade drill was held on Tuesday in an area
southeast of the Shandong
Peninsula by Chinese and Russian troops participating in an ongoing
joint military exercise.
A few minutes after 11:00 AM, Chinese planes provided air cover
for a formation of Chinese and Russian warships. The Chinese and
Russian air force then simulated a dogfight.
Chinese fighters blocked enemy battle aircraft with air-to-air
missiles.
Meanwhile, the joint naval formation sank "enemy" submarines
with deck-landing anti-submarine helicopters and depth bombs.
At 11:20 AM, Chinese and Russian early warning planes and patrol
planes guided the joint fleet on a "mission" to attack and destroy
"enemy" warships. A Russian destroyer launched precision attacks on
targets, while Chinese warships fired missiles to destroy the
targets, using data and information transmitted by the patrol
planes.
With the help of the early warning system, the joint naval
formation attacked with ship-to-air missiles and quick-fire guns.
They also intercepted "enemy" missiles of different types using
infrared, photoelectric and platinic devices.
For Tuesday's exercise, Russia deployed its "Marshal
Shaposhnikov" anti-submarine destroyer, a missile destroyer,
shipboard helicopters, and A-50 early warning planes from the
Russian Pacific Fleet. The Chinese contingent included three
destroyers, three frigates, two submarines and 20 aircraft.
(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2005)
