New Russian sea-launched cruise missiles "nullify" American military power in the vast geopolitical region from Warsaw to Kabul, from Rome to Baghdad
US President Barack Obama, speaking at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, called Russia's actions the main threat to the world, more terrible than international terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. His attacks on the Russian Federation were frankly hysterical and inadequate. What made the president of the strongest country in the world so worried?
One of these reasons could be information that the new Russian sea-based cruise missiles, the deployment of which Putin announced at a recent meeting in Novorossiysk, "zero" American power and nullify Washington's military superiority in the vast geopolitical region from Warsaw to Kabul. from Rome to Baghdad.
However, first things first.
On September 10, Russian news agencies reported to urbi et orbi that President Putin personally chaired the Military Industrial Commission, which until then was under the authority of the government, and ordered a new version of the Russian Military Doctrine to be prepared by December 2014.
The President proposed to discuss in detail what weapons systems need to be developed in order to successfully repel new threats. At the same time, Putin called precision weapons one of the main directions of the future development of the defense industry complex. He stressed that in the coming years it is necessary to ensure the breakthrough development of all components of such weapons.
In addition, the head of state said that it is necessary "to create unified models of weapons and equipment, general-purpose means" and especially noted that the Russian navy needs to develop new projects of ships - "universal in weapons, control and communication systems."
The head of state justified this by the fact that Russia is forced to respond to new threats to its own security. "The creation of a missile defense system is in full swing. Success on the negotiation track is not visible here. Moreover, appropriate systems are being created in Europe and Alaska, that is, close to our borders," he said. The president also added that the so-called theory of global disarming blow.
"There are other things that bother us very much," Putin noted and mysteriously hinted at some unpleasant "surprises" for "our Western partners." “The main thing is that then there will be no hysterics,” he finished tartly.
At first, few people paid due attention to these strange words about hysteria. Most of the variegated analysts and political scientists, noteworthy interpreters and clarifiers of everything in the world, perceived this Putin passage as a simple figure of speech, ordinary political rhetoric designed to demonstrate to the West, led by Washington, the decisiveness of our president in upholding the national interests of Russia. And only a few experts took his words about "surprises" and "tantrums" seriously. But while these "few" were wondering what kind of surprises our uncle Vova had prepared for their "Uncle Sam", the situation began to clear up by itself.
On September 23, Putin arrived in Novorossiysk for a meeting on port development. At this meeting, Admiral Vitko reported to him on the progress of the construction of the Black Sea Fleet base in Novorossiysk. In particular, the admiral said: "The submarines that will be based here have long-range cruise missiles, and the secrecy of the submarines' departure from the bases in Novorossiysk is an order of magnitude higher than in Sevastopol." And when the president inquired about the exact range of these missiles, the Black Sea Fleet commander replied: “More than one and a half thousand kilometers. The submarine pier area accommodates eight submarines, but so far it is planned to have seven. Everything will be fully completed at the end of 2016”.
This dialogue was shown by all central TV channels, and all news agencies of the country wrote about it.
"Well, what's wrong with that?" - Ask an inexperienced reader.
To understand the scale of this "surprise", first you need to say a few words about those submarines that will soon be deployed in the Novorossiysk naval base. According to media reports, this is the submarine of Project 636.3 - a deep modernization of the so-called. "Varshavyanka".
The Varshavyanka became the third generation of large diesel-battery submarines in the Soviet Navy. The first generation of these submarines - project 641 - was called "pieces of iron", the second - 641B - "rubber bands", tk. it was the first domestic diesel engine with a rubberized lightweight body. In 1983, the submarines of the third generation, project 877, appeared, nicknamed "Varshavyanka" for the fact that they were supposed to arm not only the Soviet Navy, but also the fleets of our allies under the Warsaw Pact. The current modernized version of this submarine is operated under the code "Project 636".
Initially, the Varshavyanka's ammunition load did not include missile weapons at all. The development of cruise missiles, adapted for launching from Varshavyanka, began only in 1983, when Project 877 submarines were already part of the combat composition of the Soviet Navy, and the first demonstration of these cruise missiles took place ten years later, in 1993- m. At first, the Turquoise cruise missile was intended for the Varshavyanka of project 877, later - the Caliber, the maximum firing range of which, according to open sources, does not exceed 300 km.
Since its inception, Project 877 "Varshavyanka" has become the world's largest and most powerful non-nuclear submarine, and later - the world's only non-nuclear submarine equipped with missile weapons. The missiles themselves, included in its ammunition load, are the first in our fleet samples of cruise missiles fired from torpedo tubes with a diameter of 533 mm. Prior to that, of such torpedo tubes, only 81R, 83R, 84R ballistic missiles and their modifications were used. In nuclear warheads, they have been in operation since the mid-70s, and in the missile-torpedo version - from the mid-80s. Moreover, the range of their flight did not exceed 50 km.
And now the commander of the Black Sea Fleet reports to the President of Russia that henceforth these submarines will be armed with cruise missiles that will be able to hit targets at distances of MORE THAN ONE AND A HALF THOUSAND KILOMETERS!
If all this is really so (well, the admiral is not lying to his commander-in-chief!), And the Russian gunsmiths managed to cram a cruise missile with a flight range of 1,500 km into the dimensions of a 533-mm torpedo tube, then this is truly a breakthrough, outstanding achievement of the domestic defense industry!
Moreover, this actually means a complete collapse of the American military strategy and a qualitative change in the balance of power in favor of Russia. For now any warship of the Russian fleet - not only a boat, but also a surface ship - is becoming carriers of strategic missile weapons. Why strategic? Because equipping such miracle missiles with nuclear weapons is only a matter of time and the political will of the Kremlin!
As for surface ships, a separate explanation is needed here. If these new long-range missiles really do not exceed the dimensions of the Kalibr missile system - after all, it is precisely it that is installed on the Varshavyanka - then they, naturally, can be included in the ammunition load of any ship equipped with this complex. But the fact is that the "Caliber", if desired, is easy to install on ALL ships of the Russian Navy, from missile boats to cruisers! The only question is the number of missiles, which really depends on the ship's displacement. True, until now it was believed that the tactical and technical characteristics of the "Caliber" do not allow the use of these missiles either against ships or against ground targets at ranges exceeding 300 km …
And then - attention! - another surprise awaits us.
On September 29, 2014, the world media reported on the "Caspian Summit", which was attended by the heads of the five Caspian states: Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. The participants in this summit agreed on a political statement in which for the first time they unanimously fixed future agreements on the status of the Caspian.
Vladimir Putin commented on this event as follows: “The main thing is that we have agreed on a political statement, which for the first time fixed the basic principles of five-sided cooperation in the Caspian. The agreements reached meet the long-term interests of all parties. " He also said that the interaction of the five Caspian states will strengthen security in the region, because the "five" agreed that the presence of "outside" armed forces would be excluded in the region.
Against this background, of particular interest are media reports that nine Project 21631 Buyan-M small missile ships will be included in the combat strength of the Russian Caspian Flotilla. These nimble ships, equipped with water-jet engines, with a displacement of only 950 tons, if necessary, can even be based on the Volga, as they are specially designed as vessels of the "river-sea" class. But most importantly, despite their small size, they are also equipped with the Kalibr missile system with eight missiles in a vertical launcher.
Three of these ships are already in service, the rest should enter the combat composition of the fleet by 2018. But if we assume that they will be armed with "conventional" missiles with a range of up to 300 km, then it is completely incomprehensible against whom Russia is going to use these weapons in the Caspian. One such missile is capable of sinking a destroyer, but none of the Caspian countries has and is not expected to have ships of this class! And ground targets "ordinary" missiles will be able to destroy targets only in the territories of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran, which is completely unnecessary today …
But if we assume that the Buyans will be equipped with new long-range missiles, the same as the Novorossiysk Varshavyanka, everything will immediately fall into place.
The INF Treaty, signed by Moscow and Washington back in 1987, still prohibits Russia from deploying ground-based missiles with a range of over 500 km. But this prohibition does not apply to sea-launched missiles. This means that nine "Buyans", if they are armed with a new superweapon, will be capable of destroying up to 72 targets at a distance of over 1,500 km with one salvo.
Considering the size of the Caspian water area, which is now becoming a common "launch pad" for the Buyans, it is easy to understand that they will be targeting a huge region of Eurasia. And if we add to this the missiles that will be deployed on the Varshavyanka in the Black Sea water area, it turns out that colossal spaces will fall under their sight. Warsaw and Rome, Baghdad and Kabul, the bases of the US 6th Mediterranean Fleet and its attack ship groups, Israel and the lion's share of the southern Mediterranean coast will be targeted by new Russian missiles.
And this despite the fact that neither in the Black Sea, nor, moreover, in the Caspian, the United States can deploy any forces to counter this new unexpected "Russian threat"! On the Black Sea, this is hindered by the Montreux Convention of 1936, and the leaders of the Caspian states have just announced that they will not tolerate any foreign military presence in the Caspian region.
You can't say anything, Putin has prepared a good "surprise" for our "American partners"! The State Department and the Pentagon will have something to think about at their leisure.
P. S. Yes, one more thing: something elusive tells me that this surprise is not the last …
