Three advanced Chinese warships have conducted various combat training exercises involving helicopters on board vessels in the South China Sea. They are part of the first ocean manoeuvres conducted by the Chinese Navy in 2013.

Saturday's training was aimed at testing scouting, patrolling, fighting and defending abilities of the helicopters on board the fleet.

Saturday's training was aimed at testing scouting, patrolling, fighting and defending abilities of the helicopters on board the fleet, made up of a missile destroyer and two missile frigates.

The helicopters pinpointed targets in the air and in the sea before sending the locations back to the missile destroyer to launch missiles.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Fire Missiles! "

Data shows the targets were hit precisely with the guidance of the helicopters.

The manoeuvre also included simulated accidents to test the navy's ability of handling emergencies. "Alert! The starboard is hit! Damage control team, put out the fire! Signalman's cabin on fire! Put out the fire!"

The fleet also conducted joint anti-submarine training. The helicopter team adopted different strategies to search for, approach and locate targets.

Vice CDR Lin Peng, Chinese Navy Ocean Training Fleet, said, "This manoeuvre tested our fighting and training methods. It also tested the reliability of our equipment. The joint combat ability of fleet and helicopters has been improved."

The fleet entered the South China Sea on February 1st. It is scheduled to carry out more patrol missions and various training exercises over the next few days.