3/28/2023 0 Comments Tomahawk missile![]() ![]() As they close within short range of an enemy ship, the missiles accelerate from their cruising speed of Mach 0.8 to Mach 3, and descend to just 4.6 meters in altitudes-making them extremely difficult for a ship’s antimissile defenses to shoot down. Benefitting from vector-thrust nozzles on the ship-launched versions, the active-radar homing Kalibr missiles are also designed to perform evasive maneuvers instead of making a straight-line approach. The antiship variants-designated the SS-N-27 Sizzler by NATO, or the 3M54T or 3M54K for the ship- and submarine-launched versions respectively-have shorter range, estimated between 270 and 410 miles, and are designed to skim low over the sea to avoid detection. There are well over a dozen different variants in the Kalibr missile family, varying in launch platform, range, target profile and speed, varying in length from six to nine meters, but all packing a 990-pound warhead or a nuclear payload. However, by showing off its long-range naval strike capabilities, Moscow not only advertised its technological prowess, but literally advertised the Kalibr missiles capabilities to foreign buyers-who can opt to purchase a shorter-range variant known as the Klub missile. Russian attack planes were already operating over Syria at the time of the first strike in 2015, and could easily have launched air attacks against those targets at much lower cost. ![]()
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