‘Combat Training’: Russia’s Anti-Daesh Missions to Help Improve Kalibr Missiles
SPUTNIK DISPATCHES
(Note: Originally posted on 01.06.2017)
The Russian Navy's latest anti-Daesh operation in Syria, which saw the Admiral Essen frigate and the Krasnodar submarine launch four Kalibr cruise missiles against militant targets to the east of Palmyra, has helped to test and improve some of the most advanced weapons in Moscow's arsenal, defense analysts told Sputnik.
"The number of missiles and their distribution, two on a ship and two on a submarine, indicate that this was likely a 'combat training launch.' In other words, Russian servicemen were testing these weapons, but they used the opportunity to employ these armaments in combat against a specific target," President of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies Konstantin Sivkov said.
The defense analyst described preparations for such a launch as an "extremely demanding process which requires massive computational capabilities." This suggests that the operation was planned in advance. "They did not simply locate the militants and carry out an airstrike," he pointed out.On Tuesday, the Admiral Essen frigate and the Project 636 Varshavyanka submarine Krasnodar launched four Kalibr cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean, hitting all intended targets to the east of Palmyra. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian Navy destroyed Daesh hideouts, housing heavy military equipment. An unconfirmed number of militants were eliminated in the successful operation.
"All targets have been hit. The Krasnodar submarine was submerged during the launch. Senior defense officials in the United States, Turkey and Israel were informed of the cruise missile launch through existing cooperation channels in a prompt manner," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russia previously used Kalibr cruise missiles last November.Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the main department of international military cooperation of the Russian Defense Ministry, pointed out that the campaign in Syria has allowed the Russian Armed Forces to improve their combat capabilities.
"The most efficient method entails carrying out combat operations against a real enemy instead of launching airstrikes against familiar stationary targets at a testing range. One could say that the operation in Syria has provided [the Russian military] with such an opportunity," he said. "In addition such missions help improve combat characteristics of the missiles."
© Photos: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
SPUTNIK DISPATCH—Russia previously used Kalibr cruise missiles last November.Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the main department of international military cooperation of the Russian Defense Ministry, pointed out that the campaign in Syria has allowed the Russian Armed Forces to improve their combat capabilities.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
[premium_newsticker id=”154171″]
By subscribing you won’t miss the special editions. |
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
window.newShareCountsAuto="smart";