"Kalibr-M" Resurging Russia's Brute Force Cruise Missile Approach

Following Russia May Develop a 4,500 km, 1 tonne, “Kalibr M”Missile [for ship/submarine launch] of January 9, 2019

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 response Thanks KQN. Yes Russia's "Kalibr-M Project" is like the P-800 Oniks also likely to benefit from existing work on the Kh-101 Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM). But a cruise missile launched from a submarine (SLCM) would suffer shorter range than an ALCM due to the SLCM needing to expend fuel and time to attain the high cruising altitude that an ALCM can more easily reach.

The "Kalibr-M" Project (self requiring a 1 tonne warhead, 4,500 km range) is a resurgence of Russia's 1970s brute force cruise missile technological dead end approach. Since the 1970s  cruise missiles were refined (US Tomahawk and Russian Kalibr) that are far superior, small container sized, longer range and have much greater accuracy.

Russia should be encouraged to shelve the Tomahawk like Kalibr and return to the bad old days of large platform, brute force, cruise missiles, deceptively named as "Kalibr-M". 

Meanwhile the West should continue with Tomahawks followed by even smaller-higher-explosive warheads, allowing longer range, missiles. 

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 [brute force] 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

- in terms of submarines Bazalt was used on the Soviet Echo II SSGNs and Juliett class SSKs 

Above is a modern development of P-599 Bazalt, known as the [brute force] 7 tonne 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".

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-500_Bazalt#P-1000_Vulkan

"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 cruiser Varyag,^[7] and some sources report P-1000 missiles on her sister ship Moskva.^[8]

4.  Friedman, Norman (1997). The Naval Institute guide to world naval weapons systems, 1997-1998.

     Naval Institute Press. p. 246.

5.  http://tvzvezda.ru/news/forces/content/201601050731-ddon.htm

6.  Administrator."Противокорабельная крылатая ракета "Вулкан"". Retrieved 8 October 2015.

7.  "Russian troops' combat readiness enhanced: defense minister". Retrieved 8 October 2015.

8.  "US Navy's presence counters Russia's Black Sea fleet". Georgia Today (566). 17 June 2011.

     Archived from the original on 2 January 2012."

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 one-off test sub
          "Yankee Sidecar" (Project 667M Andromeda class aka "Yankee SSGN") modified from normal
           SSBN . This SSGN carried the number K-420. K-420 appeared in 1983, also testing 12
           SS-NX-24 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
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 reference to "K-420" the one-off test submarine a Yankee class "SSGN"
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

4:45 - time of Donald Rumsfeld (pictured) SecDef 2001-2006 US very active in MidEast.

5:01 - need to keep up with American submarine missile development. [Perhaps Russians are

          expecting a longer range development of the Tomahawk
          - maybe the Next-Generation Land-Attack Missile (NGLAW) ]

5:56 - launch of Yasen(?) (around 2010) (imprimatur of Putin presiding) and/or Akula SSGN the

           most likely submarines to carry advanced P-1000 Vulkans for land attack

6:10 - Akula?

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.

Again - The "Kalibr-M Project" (self requiring a 1 tonne warhead, with 4,500 km range) is a resurgence of Russia's 1970s brute force cruise missile technological dead end approach. Therefore Russia should be encouraged to again go down that route, while the West should continue to avoid it. 

Pete