KQN made the insightful comment:
“Russia's air launched stealthy Kh-101 is already speculated to have a range of 4500km. It flies at 6km altitude for the majority of its flight path. Its diameter is supposedly compliant to 533mm. So kalibr variant of similar range is clearly feasible even on a much earlier timeframe if sufficient funds are available.”
In terms of missiles actually launched from ships and submarines, another supplimentary candidate as a technology beginning for the Kalibr-M is the the P-500 Bazalt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-500_Bazalt (NATO name "SS-N-12 Sandbox"). Specifications include:
- 4,800kg, 11.7m long, 0.88m diameter, 1 TONNE WARHEAD (a specific spec for the Kalibr-M).
- turbojet powered (but can go "Mach 2.5"!) so trading off this high speed (with only 550 km
range) for longer range may help attain Kalibr-M's 4,500 km requirement
Above is a modern development of P-599 Bazalt, known as the
P-1000 Vulkan (or Vulcan) (main source Wikipedia and footnotes 4 to 8 below) submarine launched cruise missile (SLCM). So
P-1000 Vulkan (or Vulcan) may be a logical technology start for the "Kalibr-M".
"An improved version of the P-500 was installed on three
Echo II [SSGNs] towards the end of the Cold War.
[4] The P-1000 Vulkan (GRAU 3M70) presumably has the same firing range and maximum speed with the P-500 Bazalt (range 800 km
[5]). The missile weight was increased by 1-2 tons. The missile has a turbojet engine and a starting powder accelerator. High-altitude flight regimes are presumably the same as that of P-500.
[6]
The P-1000 was ordered on 15 May 1979
[4] from
NPO Mashinostroyeniya Chelomey;
[4] it first flew in July 1982
[4] and was accepted for service on 18 December 1987.
[4] It was installed on three
Echo II [SSGNs] of the Northern Fleet between 1987 and 1993; the conversion of two units of the Pacific Fleet, the K-10 and K-34, was abandoned due to lack of funds.
[4] Of the submarines that did receive the P-1000, the K-1 was decommissioned after a reactor accident in 1989, the K-35 was stricken in 1993 and the K-22 in 1995.
[4] The P-1000 has been installed on the Slava class cruise
r Varyag,[7] and some sources report P-1000 missiles on her sister ship Moskva.[8]
Naval Institute Press. p. 246.
In the Youtube above is a simulated modern SSGN submarine launch of a
P-1000 Vulkan (or Vulcan) missile for land attack (ticking many of the Kalibr-M boxes). Russian language:
1 sec - design bureau
7sec - diagonal submarine launch
12s - aircraft for test flight and/or targeting
22s - diagonal test launch from surfaced submarine. Evident is initial launch rocket motor dropping
off with handover to turbojet
55s -
Echo SSGN(?) or
Yankee class testsub(?)
1m10s - graphic submerged diagonal (allowing submarine to move at approx 10 knots - which is
faster than submarine speed during a vertical launch) launch of Vulkans
1:24 - animation, Vulkans rising to
24 km (78,740 feet) for efficient long range travel (?)
1:35 - submarine launched Vulkans (like future Kalibr-Ms) land attacking coastal targets 1:42 - looks like 1970s-80s footage of Bazalt/Vulkan loading into
Yankee class "SSGN"(?) test sub
2:04 - Submarine Pennant Number "160"?
2:14 - Likely
Oscar class SSGN with side mounted diagonal launch silos
2:40 - successful test firing
2:48 - subtitle referece to "
K-420" which is a Yankee class
3:10 - probably discontinuation of Bazalt/Vulkan advances in 1989 when Mikhail Gorbachev ruled
over dissolving Soviet Union defense budget
3:50 - need for longer range Kalibrs for Russia's missions in Middle East. Importance of oil/gas trade
5:01 - need to keep up with American submarine missile development. [Perhaps Russians are
most likely submarines to carry advanced P-1000 Vulkans for land attack
Anyone who can add further meaning to the Russian Youtube (while citing Youtube minutes and seconds) are welcome. Comments welcome, of course.
CONCLUSION
So the
P-1000 Vulkan/Vulcan anti-ship and land-attack missile was developed and deployed on submarines during the disruption of the Soviet Union in the 1980s (dissolution of the Soviet Union 1991).
As for many complex (now Russian) weapons' programs that disruption continues to this day. By associating itself with the successful Kalibr family (as the "Kalibr-M") the P-1000 Vulkan may again get funding to modernize it. This is given the tight Russian Defense Budget where many programs are competing for money and attention.
So the "Kalibr-M" (was P-1000 Vulkan) can be again put in production for wider deployment.
Pete
