Military expert Stefanovich explained why the "Calibers" will not replace the "Iskanders"
The Ministry of Defense showed the sea launch of Kalibr missiles at military facilities of Ukraine. The footage from the ship shows how the missiles are fired from the launcher and go into the sky. "Newspaper.Ru" was looking into whether Kalibr could become a universal missile for the Russian army.
The official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov said that on March 19 and 20, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed Ukrainian strategic objects with "Calibers" and "Daggers" (a hypersonic missile launching from an airplane), in particular workshops for repairing damaged armored vehicles at the Nezhinsky repair plant and fuel and lubricants storage bases in the Kontantinovka settlement of the Mykolaiv region.
The Kalibr cruise missile has a range of up to 3 thousand kilometers, the flight speed is from 800 to 3 thousand kilometers per hour. It can carry a warhead up to 400 kg. According to a number of experts, Kalibr can become the main strike force of the strategic level of Russian troops. So, Doctor of Military Sciences Konstantin Sivkov explained that one rocket for various types of military equipment simplifies the supply of troops.
"The more types of ammunition, the more difficult it is to ensure the supply of troops, the more difficult it is to organize their release, the more difficult it is to saturate the troops with the necessary amount of ammunition. Therefore, of course, they will put "Caliber" everywhere. And that's right," Sivkov said.
In turn, Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the IMEMO Center for International Security of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that a special X-101 rocket has been developed for aircraft, which is unlikely to be replaced by "Calibers".
- Stefanovich explained.
At the same time, he added that Kalibr is also unlikely to displace Iskander tactical missile systems from the troops, which can fire both aeroballistic and cruise missiles.
"These missiles have different dimensions. The rocket from the Kalibr complex is longer, you can't just put it on the Iskander. When the land-based "Caliber" appears, most likely it will be added as a separate division to each missile brigade," Stefanovich said.
Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Analysis of the World Arms Trade (CAMTO), noted that the "Calibers" belong to Russia's strategic non-nuclear deterrence forces, and their versatility and the ability to be placed in standard launch containers allow them to be placed even on small ships, such as missile boats, turning them into long-range weapons.
According to him, the salvo launch shown by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation could have been made from such a ship. "This is a full ammunition package, as I understand it, of this relatively small displacement of the ship. Nevertheless, this is an effective work," Korotchenko stressed.
He recalled that for the first time "Calibers" were used to hit militant targets in Syria.
"Today, Kalibr is a serial, proven, reliable, effective type of weapon. We have prepared the appropriate flight task preparation centers based, of course, on Russian technologies and the Glonass global navigation system, so here they are completely sovereign and independent in combat use, production and mass production of such products. "Calibres" are also equipped with projects of both nuclear and non-nuclear submarines for multi-purpose purposes," the expert noted.
- the expert noted.
According to him, the purpose of multiple launches is to check the operation of the onboard control system.
"With single volleys or when launching two or three missiles, it can work normally, and with a full volley, some problems may come to light. And now it was a full volley without any problems - that is, everything is successful," concluded Sivkov.
Denis Telmanov
