Defense News Strategic Bombers Missile Defense

Russia's new cruise missiles can hit the United States directly

August 20, 2021

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It is true that for the past two years, the vast majority of the attention paid by the Pentagon has focused on China and the rapidly evolving situation in the Western Pacific. Corn for General Glen D. Vanheck, commander of the US Northern Command in charge of protecting North America, the greatest threat that could strike the United States today would come not from Beijing and its ballistic missiles, but from Moscow and its new missiles cruisers, capable of reaching American territory directly from their own soil now. On the occasion of an online forum organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the American general declared that these new cruise missiles, which can be used both from ships and from submarines , from land platforms to containers on board commercial ships, today represented the most direct threat on United States soil (apart from strategic nuclear strikes, of course).

General Vanheck was probably referring to the new 3M-54M Kalibr-M missile under development, the ultimate version of the cruise missile that was first used against ISIS positions in 2015 from corvettes and sub- sailors positioned in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Much larger than the previous models, whose range capped at 2500 km, the Kalibr-M can carry a military charge of one ton at a distance of 4.500 km, or indeed a sufficient range to strike San Francisco from the most easterly lands of Russia. According to the Tass agency, the missile should enter service before 2027, and will equip as a priority the new nuclear frigates and submarines of the Russian Navy, alongside the 3M22 Tzirkon hypersonic missiles. In addition, the Kalibr is designed to be able to reach supersonic speeds, some versions even being able to accelerate to Mach 2.9 on the final trajectory. By way of comparison, the BGM-109 Tomahawk Block II missile reaches a maximum range of 2500 km, and the French MdCN is given for a range "greater than 1200 km", the two missiles evolving at subsonic speeds in trajectory. grazing.