Picture I |
Kimmo Huosionmaa
3M-54 "Kalibr" (Nato codename SS-N-27 "Sizzler" or SS-N-30) is the newest missile technology of the Russian Federation. The missiles diameter is 533 millimeter similar to torpedo tube, and it can launch from various submarines, aircraft and surface warships. Also the ground-based, mobile launchers are available, and this weapon is the major element of CLUB-K container missile system. These missile containers would be installed in any platform or fixed bases, and that system would give any ship or other vehicles the capacity to use the effective ground attack or anti-ship weapons, and there is actually the anti-submarine version of this missile. But let's think, how big threat this missile is for the western world.
The missile itself is quite thin, and its capacity to fly supersonic speed at the end of the trajectory will make it very difficult target for the CIWS (Close-In Weapon System). But the strike capacity of that missile and its vulnerability depends on the type of the seeker. If the missiles use radar homing, the ship would able to get the warning about the strike, and it could activate it's CIWS and ECM-systems before the missile would hit. But as we know, that the missile is similar to Tomahawk, and it uses satellite navigation in the subsonic period of the flight.
And if the GLONASS would be jammed or disturbed, the missile would have difficulties to find the target. And if the missile uses image-recognition for attacking the target, the problems with GLONASS-system could cause, that missile could not find the target. But if the missile will find the target and IIR (Imaging Infra-red) would see the target, the missile will be very deadly. In the real world, there are many ways to make the navigation system immune for jammers, and one of them is that the location of the warship will be programmed to the missile's computer, and then the flight will happen by using inertial navigation system, and when the target is calculated to be visible, would the IIR system start to drive the missile to the target.
The problem with IIR navigation is that the target would be covered by magnesium-rockets, what can blind the IIR-system. When the missile is at the end of its route would the rocket stage started and the missile will start to flight highly supersonic speed. And the infra-red systems can locate the exhaust gas of the rocket booster. This might increase the vulnerability of the missile, and also at the begin of the route when missile travels with subsonic speed, the fighters maybe can destroy it.
I don't know how advanced those missiles are, and can they change their speed during the flight, but the system is very serious threat for Western troops. It can be equipped with the conventional or nuclear warhead, and there might be the capacity to use also cluster warheads, what are effective against troop concentrations and airbases. There is one thing, what concerns about me, and that is, "why Western world is so quiet about those missiles?".
What kind of missiles western military covers? When we are thinking about the new type of missiles, we might say, that every nation keeps some of those weapons secrets, because they might give the nasty surprise for the enemy. The similar missiles what "Kalibr" is might be used in new hypersonic missile systems, where the rocket booster would take the missile to "ballistic jump" outside the atmosphere, and then the ramjets would start to drive them to the target.
The small diameter of that kind of weapon would make it very difficult to intercept. And the submarine launch ballistic missiles like R-29RMU2 "Layner" could carry at least four of those hypersonic cruise missiles, what makes that strike very lethal. The "Kalibr" is the spine of the modern Russian military strike capacity, and it could be the lethal and dangerous weapon for any target on the sea or land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-29RMU2_Layner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M-54_Kalibr
Picture I
Comments
Post a Comment