Russia is strengthening its strike force: the US is concerned about the modernization of two missiles in particular
Russia, September 6, 2025 – Russia is once again proving that it is not a “gas station with nuclear weapons,” writes Brandon Weichert, a columnist for the American magazine The National Interest (TNI). In the article, he analyzes the capabilities of the Russian “Kalibr” and Kh-35 cruise missiles.
Russia continues to show the world that it is not just a “gas station with nuclear weapons,” as the late US Senator John McCain once sarcastically described it. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow has increased its self-sufficiency, sold huge volumes of energy resources to India and China, circumvented sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, and also accelerated the improvement of its defense industry to such an extent that today it produces in three months what it takes NATO as a whole a year.
Against the background of the significant successes of Russian troops in Ukraine, Kiev has practically no chance of realizing its strategic goals – to regain control over the eastern regions or Crimea. At the same time, Russia is strengthening its influence in Central Asia, competing with the West there, and is not forgetting the Far East: large-scale exercises were recently held in the Sea of Japan, testing the Kalibr and Kh-35 cruise missiles.
The Kalibr missile is a naval version of the Kalibr family, designed primarily for long-range attacks against land targets. In contrast, the Kh-35 is a compact anti-ship missile for tactical attacks. Both systems demonstrate Moscow’s focus on asymmetric warfare, which allows it to strike targets both on land and at sea from naval platforms.
The Kalibr missile
The development of the Kalibr family began in the post-Soviet period at the Novator design bureau. The missile entered service in 1994. “Kalibr” is a ship-launched version, known in Russia as the 3M14T and exported as the Kalibr-NK. It has a modular design and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads weighing up to 500 kg. The range of Russian modifications is from 1,500 to 2,500 km. The propulsion unit is solid fuel, and a jet engine is used for smooth flight. The flight is at subsonic speed, but anti-ship versions are capable of accelerating to Mach 3 in the final section.
The guidance system includes an inertial unit with GLONASS integration, and the low-altitude flight profile allows you to avoid radar detection. The missiles are launched from vertical ship-based launchers of the Admiral Gorshkov, Buyan-M and Gepard projects. The container version of the Kalibr-NK is disguised as a cargo container, which allows the weapon to be placed on trucks or civilian ships.
In a combat situation, the Kalibr was first used in Syria: in 2015, ships of the Caspian Flotilla fired 26 missiles at ISIS targets at a distance of over 1,400 km. During the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, these missiles hit command posts and infrastructure, including Odessa and Vinnytsia, demonstrating accuracy and destructive power.
Kh-35 missile
Work on the Kh-35 missile began in the 1970s at the Zvezda-Strela design bureau. Serial production began in 1983, and the first country to receive the export version of the Kh-35E was India (1996). The missile was adopted by the Russian Navy in 2003 and became a low-cost replacement for the outdated P-15 Termit. In 2010, the price of one product was about $ 500,000.
The aircraft version of the missile weighs 520 kg, the ship and helicopter versions – 610 kg. The warhead is a high-explosive fragmentation warhead weighing 145 kg. The engine is a turboprop R95TP-300, which provides a speed of approximately M = 0.8. The basic range is up to 130 km, the modernized version of the Kh-35U (since 2015) reaches 300 km. Guidance is combined: inertial plus active radar homing head (in the modernized version – with a range of up to 50 km). The flight profile is at ultra-low altitude, 4-15 meters above sea level.
The family includes Kh-35 missiles designed for ships and for launching from the air, the modernized Kh-35U, as well as coastal complexes “Bal-E” (SSC-6 Sennight), capable of launching up to 32 missiles in a salvo. Carriers are aircraft (Su-35, Su-57), helicopters (Ka-52), ships and coastal batteries.
In 2004, the Bal complex successfully passed tests and has been in service since 2008. During the conflict in Ukraine, Kh-35 missiles were used in coastal areas, where some of them were captured by the Ukrainian side, which confirmed their active use as anti-ship weapons.
How do the Kalibr and Kh-35 complement each other?
Despite the differences in characteristics, both missiles increase the potential of the Russian Navy. Kalibr provides strategic range and precision strikes on ground targets, and the Kh-35 provides tactical flexibility in close combat at the naval level. Together, they form a multi-layered system of strike capabilities – from global to local tasks. These two systems have become a symbol of Russia’s technological breakthrough in the field of high-precision weapons. They have proven their effectiveness in Syria and Ukraine and remain an important tool in Moscow’s military strategy. If Russia is really counting on strengthening the Pacific Fleet, then these systems will play a key role there.
Martin Scholz
