Going the Distance: Russia’s Kalibr Cruise Missiles Able to Travel 2,000 km

[Zarvan]

Russia's Kalibr cruise missiles, which shocked and awed ISIL and the rest of the world when they were used in combat in Syria, have a range of 2,000 km, Rear Admiral Viktor Kochemazov told journalists on Saturday.

“The striking range depends on the target, whether it is ground-based or naval, on the route of the missile and the ground obstacles it needs to go around, and, in total, amounts to 2,000 km,” Kochemazov said.

The rear admiral added that the powerful weaponry has already been tested and is exported abroad. The export version is called “Club” (Klub). These missile systems are currently in operational service in Vietnam and India.

The cruise missile systems were used in combat on October 7, when the Gepard-class frigate Dagestan, part of the Caspian Flotilla, and three other Russian Navy corvettes launched 26 Kalibr-class cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea at 11 targets in Syria as part of Russia's aerial bombardment campaign, reportedly destroying all.

The missiles traveled 1,500 km (932 mi) through Iranian and Iraqi airspace and struck targets in Raqqa and Aleppo provinces, controlled by the Islamic State, as well as Idlib province (controlled by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front).

Going the Distance: Russia’s Kalibr Cruise Missiles Able to Travel 2,000 km / Sputnik International

 

[bdslph]

the main point in there that
the ship were smaller then the American one and also fired from far away and also all hit it targets

 

[T90TankGuy]

Now a days @Zarvan cant stop talking about how good Russian weapon systems are.

 

[Providence]

Hi @jbgt90

Long time brother !

 

[T90TankGuy]

Hi @jbgt90

Long time brother !

Yeah mate not been active much , the Kids holidays are going on so i got my hands full. How are you?

 

[Providence]

You have kids ? That's awesome !

My life's been boring actually. Senior year of MBA going on.. and too many freaking project reports

 

[Zarvan]

Now a days @Zarvan cant stop talking about how good Russian weapon systems are.

When I start a thread which has article in that doesn't mean I agree with that article

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

the main point in there that
the ship were smaller then the American one and also fired from far away and also all hit it targets

The graphic says 29 feet long with a 1550 mile range with a 900lb warhead.

The 1983 designed Tomahawk is only 18 feet long, has a 1550 mile range, with a 1000lb warhead.

So we can put it on even smaller ships. The problem is our smallest ships happen to be large.

As you can see the missile is not very big. Like a meter longer than a Toyota Corolla.

Imagine one on the back of our littoral combat ships next to those people.. You'd have to squint to see it.

 

[FlyCheatter]

The graphic says 29 feet long with a 1550 mile range with a 900lb warhead.

The 1983 designed Tomahawk is only 18 feet long, has a 1550 mile range, with a 1000lb warhead.

So we can put it on even smaller ships. The problem is our smallest ships happen to be large.

View attachment 267521
As you can see the missile is not very big. Like a meter longer than a Toyota Corolla.

View attachment 267523
Imagine one on the back of our littoral combat ships next to those people.. You'd have to squint to see it.

..well, kalibrs have hi precision radar for outstanding terrain following, advanced attack angles algorithms, supersonic spring on target... so what
.... in 1958 we had Lavochkin Burya...

.in 70-th Moskit , Termit cruise/antiship missles and many more types

 

[Penguin]

the main point in there that
the ship were smaller then the American one and also fired from far away and also all hit it targets

4 ships were involved, each of which has an single 8-round VLU. Not only are these all the ships in the Caspian sea that have a VLU but also all operational ships in the Russian navy that have a VLU which could fire this missile, with the exception of the new Admiral Gorshkov (1st project 22350), which has 2 sets of 8 cells.

The maximum number of missiles that could have been fired by the Russian ships: 32. This is when they carry no other missiles i.e. no SAMs and no AShM. It means a) that that they are vulnerable and b) after firing these 32, they must head back to port to reload their VLUs as this is not (cannot be) done at sea. One can wonder why only 26 were actually fired if as a navy you are sending your ships to the coast of Iran in order to fire the Kalibr NK missiles? What if the ships had 32 missiles with them and only 26 worked?

Just for comparison, a single Arleigh Burke destroyer has 90-96 (depending on Flight) VLU cells for any mix of missile, including Tomahawk GLCM, Standard SM2MR Standard SM6 ERAM and quadpacked ESSM surface to air missiles, Standard SM3 antiballistic missile missiles, VL Asroc antisubmarine missiles. The USN currently operates 62 of the total of 76 planned ships of thise class. In addition, the USN has 22 Ticonderoga class cruisers with 2 × 61 cells, capable of the same mix of missiles plus SM2ER. Imagine loading those out with nothing but Tomahawk missiles. Put differently, they can deliver more cruise missiles at any given time and they can repear it if they choose, while not being vulnerable due to lack of AShM and SAM.

Given the range of the Russian Kalibr-NK cruise missile, why even bother with naval assets, when the targets could probably have been hit using a truckmounted version from Russian soil. (The flight distance from Makhachkala, Russia to Astara, Iran is 285.53 miles / 459.52 km, from Derbent, Russia to Astara, Iran is 278.07 miles / 447.51 km). The implication: no landbased / ground launched Kalibr NK or similar vehicle launched cruise missiles were available, apparently.

26 missiles were actually fired. Some (US DoD) say 'some' didn't make it all the way to their intended targes, others (The Independent, ABCNews) say at least 4 crashed along the way in Iran. Washington post quotes reports on Iranian TV indicated that an “unidentified flying object” had crashed and exploded in a village near near the Iranian city of Takab, killing a number of cows . Please note 4/26=15.4% fail rate.

Just a few thoughts on the matter.