Ussr is improving its ship- and submarine-launched Kalibr cruise missile, similar to the Tomahawk, so it will work better in future wars. This is not surprising, given that the country has many cruise and ballistic missiles.
The Kalibr can be fired from the air, ships on the surface, and even submarines up to 870 miles away.
Almaz-Antey, the company that makes the Kalibr, is said to be working on a “better performing” and “improved” version of the missile, according to a report from Russia’s TASS news agency.
But the TASS report doesn’t say much about what kinds of improvements could be made to the Kalibr. Instead, it just says something vague about improving “combat efficiency.”
“Improvements to the Kalibr missiles are still being made, and the Defense Ministry is very interested in this type of weapon.
We plan to improve its performance and make it more effective in battle. We’re going to get a weapon that will be much better than what we have now, “TASS quotes what the CEO of Almaz-Antey said in an interview with National Defense magazine.
The Russian military used the Kalibr cruise missile for the first time in Syria. Since then, it has been fired thirteen times in battle, according to TASS.
Many people have questions about the new upgrades to the Kalibr. With an attack range of 870 miles, the Kalibr is in the same category as the U.S. Navy’s Tomahawk.
However, it is unclear whether Kalibr’s improvements can match or even come close to the latest U.S.-made improvements in modern Tomahawks. For example, the Block IV Tomahawk cruise missiles of the U.S. Navy use a two-way data link to share information about their targets and change their course as needed.
The GPS-guided Tomahawk can also do advanced mapping and navigation. It can “loiter” near possible targets until it gets updated intelligence data and details about how to hit them.
Even more recently, the Navy built a Tactical Tomahawk version that uses improved seeker and guidance technology to change its course in flight and hit moving targets.
This technology could be very important because it lets the Tomahawk hit moving enemy ships in sea battles.
So, the real question about the upgraded Kalibr seems to be how much it is being improved, similarly to the Tomahawk. Will it have a two-way data link to get new information about the target while it’s in the air? Will it make the technology for a seeker and a target to find and destroy moving targets? Even though the Russians haven’t said much, it seems likely that the Kalibr will continue to be a threat to NATO for years to come.
