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)