For the first time, the Russian mobile coastal missile system "Club-M" was presented to the general public at the international naval show in 2006, where it immediately attracted the attention of specialists from many countries. In terms of its combat power, it has no analogues in the world, and the ability to strike both enemy ships and coastal targets makes the Club-M a completely unique missile system, for which buyers from all over the world may soon line up.
The high combat power of the Club-M is due to the fact that, unlike other similar installations, its arsenal contains not four missiles, but six. Moreover, they can be launched as one salvo, or one by one. Thanks to this, one given missile system is capable of destroying an entire group of enemy ships, and its arsenal is also sufficient to destroy two, even the most modern aircraft carriers.
For launches against surface targets, the Club-M uses promising Russian cruise missiles 3M-54KE and 3M-54KE1, and for hitting coastal targets 3M-14KE. Due to the fact that these missiles fly along an unpredictable trajectory and at an extremely low altitude (20-30 meters), it is almost impossible to detect them with radars, and therefore shoot them down. All this makes Club-M a real gift for countries with long maritime borders, because even without a strong navy, such countries can protect themselves by adopting several such missile systems.
Speaking specifically about Russia, according to experts' estimates, about a hundred Club-M installations are enough for reliable protection of our borders. There is no exact information on how many of these missile systems are in service with the Russian army at the moment and most likely they can be counted on one hand. The most surprising thing is that it seems that the Ministry of Defense does not show due interest in the "Club-M", at least there were no official statements about their acquisition. And this is really strange, because for a country with such a huge and long sea border, this complex is extremely necessary, but apparently the officials from the Ministry of Defense have a different opinion and for them it seems much more important to introduce a new uniform from Yudashkin and the purchase of helicopter carriers from France. But representatives of many other countries have a completely different opinion. Such countries as the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia and a number of other countries show great attention to "Club-M". Seeing this, the developer of the complex, the Agat concern, is increasingly betting on the foreign market, and the chances that the world's best coastal missile system will guard the borders of Russia are diminishing every day.
