T
he massive attack of Russian
cruise missiles KALIBR (CALI-
BER) against the ISIL targets in
Syria taken in November, 2015, from
the surface ships of the Caspian fleet
resulted not only in a burst of interest
of the media worldwide, but also in the
burst of interest of potential customers.
The specialists have been famil-
iar with the export modification of the
KALIBR missiles, known as the CLUB,
for more than 15 years. The following
Navy-operated missile complexes are
well known in the global market:
- the «Club – S» complex to arm sub-
marines including the 3M-54E or 3M-
54E1 anti-ship missile (3M-54E is the
one with a supersonic terminal stage),
the 3M-14E land-attack missile, and the
91PE1 anti-submarine ballistic missile.
These missiles are placed in a water-
tight capsule to ensure their launch from
torpedo tube of a submarine;
CLUB missile systems:
meet a new member
- the «Club – N» complex to arm
surface ships including the 3M-54TE or
3M-54TE1 anti-ship missile (3M-54TE
is the one with a supersonic terminal
stage), the 3M-14TE land-attack missile,
and the 91PTE2 anti-submarine ballistic
missile. These missiles are placed in a
transport-and-launch canister to ensure
their launch from either vertical or tilted
launcher of a carrier ship.
Besides, these anti-ship and land
attack missiles have been modified
for use from aircraft carriers (complex
CLUB-A) and for use from mobile
launchers of the coastal defense
systems (Complex CLUB-M)
All the CLUBs incorporate a high-
accuracy land-attack cruise missile
destined to kill stationary or relocatable
targets on the enemy’s territory within
the operational range.
This missile is equipped with a
powerful 450-kg high-explosive war-
head and has a combined control
system providing reticent flight along
the prescribed route basing on the
information from inertial navigation
system updated using the GPS/
GLONASS signals. The flight over land
is routed minding the terrain folds,
bypassing air defense zones, at
minimal altitude, and approaching
a target from the prescribed direction.
The logic of missile use allows to cause
maximum damage to the targets that
are considered pin-pointed like sepa-
rate buildings or structures, as well as
to those considered area-spaced (like
air or sea terminals, clusters of military
equipment). Everything that millions
of people could see on their screens
for CALIBR two years ago the export
version of the missile may also demon-
strate."land attack cruise missile".