Foreign Wars and conflicts

The flames of departure filmed from a warboat

The impressive launch of Russian Kalibr missiles from a ship in the Black Sea: video from Ukrainian social networks

According to the Ukrainian Air Force Command, 2 missiles exploded on the territory, another 2 "intercepted by air defense". The bombs, one of the pillars of the Kremlin's offensive capabilities, have an estimated range of up to 2,500 kilometers.

21/02/2023

The footage - released online last Sunday - could refer to the launch (last February 18) of four cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force Command. According to Kiev, two of these were then "intercepted by air defense". Andriy Yermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also said that Russia "is using strategic aircraft, in the airspace over the occupied territories in particular, launching missiles."

The Russian Navy would have increased from seven to eleven the number of warships deployed in the Black Sea: all carry Kalibr missiles and at the moment - according to Kiev - the "total of cruise rockets would be 24". Another combat ship of the Russian Federation would instead be in the Sea of Azov, and ten others are in the Mediterranean, five of them aircraft carriers, with a total of 72 missiles on board.

Kalibr
Characteristics The Kalibr missiles (NATO reporting names SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A), also known as 3M-54, 3M-14 and R91, are a family of Russian-made cruise missiles that can be launched from surface ships and submarines in anti-ship, anti-submarine and land attack function. The development of these missiles was overseen by the Design Bureau Novator. The missiles that make up the Kalibr family have both subsonic and supersonic versions which, if exported, are known by the name Club in foreign markets.

The bomb is part of a modular system that, in addition to retaining a number of common components in the different versions, is compatible with a universal vertical launch system that the Russian Navy has gradually adopted on all its major units. A self-sufficient version disguised as a container for freight transport would be being tested, in order to make it more difficult to identify the complex.

The long range of missiles
The entire Kalibr family has been developed since 1985, and its export began from 1993. It was first shown in public in and NATO established its designations: the SS-N-27A would be called the three-stage 3M-54 missile, while the designation SS-N-27B would refer to the two-stage 3M-14 version.
More than 6 meters long, they represent one of the pillars of the offensive capabilities of the Kremlin army with an estimated range of about 1,500-2,500 kilometers. In 2015 they were used during the conflict in Syria: 26 Kalibr missiles were launched through Russian ships moved for the occasion to the Caspian Sea. In that case the missiles flew about 1800 kilometers before reaching their targets.