The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video of a Kalibr cruise missile fired at the Northern Fleet testing area in the Barents Sea. According to Russian military and political expert, retired Colonel Viktor Baranets, Kalibr rockets have yet again proven their efficiency and demonstrated cutting-edge performance.
"Today, the Northern Fleet's multipurpose nuclear submarine Severodvinsk successfully fired a Kalibr sea-based cruise missile. The crew conducted the underwater test launch from the Northern Fleet's test site in the Barents Sea. The target was in the Chizha testing ground in the Arkhangelsk region," the Russian Navy's official press release says.
According to the statement, the missile traveled around 373 miles. Kalibr cruise missiles were originally designed to be used by Russian Project 885 Yasen-class nuclear submarines but were eventually adapted to be used by Project 636 Varshavyanka submarines as well as by the surface warships of the Russian Navy.
Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Baranets called attention to the fact that the test became the second successful launch of the Kalibr cruise missile since the beginning of the year.
"The Severodvinsk submarine fired a Kalibr missile from the underwater position. This is the second successful firing exercise with this weapon since the beginning of this year," Baranets said, recalling that the first test was conducted in spring.
Indeed, speaking to reporters in late July Chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, revealed that over the last two months Kalibr missiles destroyed six objects of the Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group on Syrian territory.
On June 21, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian Navy warships launched Kalibr missiles from the Mediterranean Sea at Daesh targets in Hama, killing several militants and destroying the terror group's command posts and large caches of weapons.
Earlier, on May 31, the Admiral Essen and Krasnodar launched four Kalibr missiles from the eastern Mediterranean targeting Daesh's positions in Palmyra. Kalibr cruise missiles have been used in Russia's fight against terrorists in Syria since 2015.
"Judging from all of the above one can conclude that our magnificent high-precision weapons, the Kalibr, which apparently has no analogue in the world, could be successfully launched from both diesel and nuclear underwater vessels," Baranets emphasized.
However, Russian military successes have never received much praise from "the West," the military expert remarked.
"There will be a ritual whining in the Western press," Baranets predicted, "They will say: 'Russia is again flexing its military muscle'."
"This reaction is always the same: whether [Russia] holds a military parade on the Red Square or conducts its drills in the Orenburg steppes and the Baltic Sea, or fires Kalibr missiles from the Barents Sea — the Western press is always ranting and whining. It's a sort of ritual spell," the military analyst noted ironically.
But what is the real purpose of these exercises? There is nothing sinister about that, the expert says, the thing is that Russia is just routinely testing its weapons.
"We are checking the effectiveness of our weapons and verifying the claimed tactical and technical characteristics," Baranets said, "We do not pursue any other goals. This is a normal naval practice."
"And we are grateful to the designers of this rocket because all the tactical and technical characteristics of the Kalibr cruise missile have been fully confirmed," the military expert underscored.
