This Video Proves Russia's Attack Submarines Can Attack Any Target on the Globe

Dave Majumdar

Security, Europe

Thanks to an advanced cruise missile. 

Yesterday, the Russian Navy released a video of K-560 Severodvinsk—sailing in the Barents Sea—launching Kalibr cruise missiles towards a target in the Chizh test site in the Arkhangelsk region 600 kilometers away. The video highlights the Russian Navy’s capability to perform long-range strike missions across the globe—something that has largely been the sole purview of Western navies armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles since the end of the Cold War.

“The crew executed a combat exercise from an underwater position in one of the training grounds of the Northern Fleet in the Barents Sea,” reads a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD).

“The missile was launched at the Chizh test site in the Arkhangelsk region. The distance from the start line to the target position was about 600 kilometers.”

According to the Russian MOD, the weapon hit its target and met of their technical parameters for the live fire test. But as recent Russian operations in Syria have shown, hitting a target only 600km away only exploits a fraction of the Kalibr’s capability. Russian surface warships based in the Caspian Sea have engaged targets at ranges of roughly 1800km—or about 1000 nautical miles—against various targets in Syria. The Kalibr is thought to have a maximum range of roughly 2,600km or about 1,400 nautical miles.

The Kalibr affords Russian surface warships the ability to engage targets ashore at long ranges. Indeed, the Russian Navy can strike at large parts of northern and western Europe from its surface warships and conventional submarines.