Russia continues to demonstrate that it has not been a "gas station with nuclear weapons" for a long time, writes The National Interest (TNI) columnist Brandon Weichert. In his material, the translation of which publishes Pravda.Ru He analyzes the capabilities of the Russian cruise missiles "Caliber" and "Uranus" X-35.
US Senator John McCain, now deceased, once sarcastically called Russia a "gas station with nuclear weapons." Since the beginning of the conflict on In Ukraine, Moscow has strengthened its self-sufficiency by selling huge amounts of energy resources to India and China, bypassing sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies, and also dispersing its military-industrial complex to such a scale that in three months it produces what the whole NATO takes a whole year.
Against the background of significant successes of Russian troops on In Ukraine, Kiev has almost no chance to realize its strategic goals — to regain control over the eastern regions or over the Crimea. At the same time, Russia is strengthening its influence in Central Asia, competing with the West there, and does not forget about the Far East: recently in Large-scale exercises were held in the Sea of Japan with the testing of the Kalibr and Uranus X-35 cruise missiles.
Kalibr is a ship—based version of the Kalibr family, designed primarily for long-range strikes against ground targets. In contrast, the X-35 is a compact anti—ship missile for tactical attacks. Both complexes demonstrate Moscow's reliance on asymmetric warfare, allowing strikes from offshore platforms against targets on land and at sea.
The development of the Caliber family began in the post-Soviet period at the Novator Design Bureau. The missile entered service in 1994. "Caliber" is a version for launching from ships, known in Russia under the index 3M14T, and exported as Caliber-NK. It has received a modular design and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads weighing up to 500 kg.
The flight range in Russian versions ranges from 1500 to 2500 km. The power plant is a solid—fuel accelerator and a mainline turbojet engine. The flight takes place at subsonic speed, but the anti-ship versions are able to accelerate to M = 3 in the final section. The guidance system includes an inertial unit with GLONASS integration, and a low-altitude flight profile avoids radar detection.
The missiles are launched from vertical launchers of ships of the Admiral Gorshkov, Buyan-M and Cheetah projects. The Kalibr-NK container variant is disguised as a cargo container, which allows weapons to be placed on trucks or civilian ships. In a combat situation, the Caliber was first used in Syria: in 2015, the ships of the Caspian Flotilla fired 26 missiles at ISIS targets* at a range of more than 1,400 km. During the conflict on In Ukraine in 2022, these missiles hit command posts and infrastructure, including in Odessa and Vinnytsia, demonstrating accuracy and destructive power.
Work on the X-35 began in the 1970s in the Zvezda-Strela Design Bureau. Serial production started in 1983, and India became the first country to receive the export version of the X-35E (1996). In the Russian Navy, the missile was put into service in 2003, becoming a cheap replacement for the outdated P-15 Termit. In 2010, the price of one product was about 500 thousand dollars.
The aviation version of the rocket weighs 520 kg, ship and helicopter — 610 kg. The warhead is high—explosive fragmentation, weighing 145 kg. The R95TP-300 turbofan engine provides a speed of about M = 0.8. The base range is up to 130 km, the upgraded version of the X—35U (since 2015) reaches 300 km. Combined guidance: inertial plus active radar seeker (in the updated version — with a range of up to 50 km). The flight profile is ultra—low altitude, 4-15 meters above the sea.
The family includes ship and aircraft missiles X-35, upgraded X-35U, as well as coastal complexes "Bal-E" (SSC-6 Sennight), capable of firing a volley of up to 32 missiles. Carriers are airplanes (Su-35, Su-57), helicopters (Ka-52), ships and coastal batteries. In 2004, the Bal complex was successfully tested, and since 2008 it has been in service.
During the conflict on In Ukraine, X-35 missiles were used in coastal areas, where some of them were intercepted by the Ukrainian side, which confirmed their active use as anti-ship weapons.
Despite the difference in characteristics, both missiles enhance the potential of the Russian Navy. The Caliber provides strategic range and accurate strikes against ground targets, and the X-35 gives tactical flexibility in close naval combat. Together, they form a layered system of strike capabilities — from global to local tasks.
These two complexes have become a symbol of Russia's technological breakthrough in the field of precision weapons. They have proven their effectiveness in Syria and on Ukraine and continue to be an important tool of Moscow's military strategy. If Russia is really betting on strengthening the Pacific Fleet, then these systems will play a key role there.
*Terrorist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation