When it comes to advanced weapon systems, Russia has got one of the largest arsenals in the world. It has also got weapon systems like hypersonic missiles that are yet to enter into service in other countries especially those with advanced military technology like the US, France, UK, Japan, South Korea, India, and Germany.
As the war goes on beyond one mouth in Ukraine and with Russia’s military casualties increasing, Putin and the Russian military have now restored long-range weapon systems to carry out strikes deep into Ukraine to destroy important military facilities and equipment as well as being used at front lines in some areas like Mariupol instead of tanks or artillery.
Five of those weapon systems used are sea-launched Kaliber cruise missiles, bastion coastal defense system, Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles, and Yakhont.
Those weapons are one of the most advanced and accurate weapons in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine so far with the exclusion of air defense systems like Buk-M3 Viking missile defense systems, s-300, s-400, Tor mobile defense systems, and pantsir mobile air defense systems.
kalibr cruise missiles.
Kalibr cruise missiles are in the family of Russian cruise missiles developed by Novator Designs Bureau, they are ship-launched, submarine-launched, and air-launched versions of the missiles and variants for anti-ship, anti-submarine, and land-attack use.
Kalibr cruise missiles employ two different propulsion systems, some versions have a second stage propulsion system that imitates supersonic Sprint in the terminal approach to the target, reducing the time for the target’s defense systems to react while some versions are subsonic but with great range than supersonic.
Kalibr cruise missiles of the Russian military are among the most advanced cruise missile systems in the world even more advanced than their counterpart in the US.
The kalibr cruise missile entered service in 1994 and have seen combat in Syria and Ukraine wars, each missile has a mass of between 1300kg-2300kg and length of between 6.2-8.9m, a diameter of 0.533m, and a warhead of between 400-500kg with a maximum range of 4500km and flight altitude of 50-150 and 20 m on water and capable of speeds of up to 2.9 March and accuracy of 3m.
Kalibr cruise missiles have been used so far to destroy Ukraine military facilities and military equipment in western Ukraine and fuel storage facilities near Keiv and have been launched from the black sea fleet.
The Iskander ballistic missile.
Another advanced weapon of chance used by Russia’s military to strike targets in Ukraine from neighboring country Belarus is Iskander ballistic missile.
The Iskander ballistic missile is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system produced and deployed by Russia’s military. Iskander ballistic missile has different operational conventional warheads including cluster ammunition warheads, fuel-air explosive enhanced-blust warheads, high explosive fragmentation warheads, earth penetrate for bunker-busting, and an electromagnetic pulse device for anti-radar systems. The Iskander ballistic missile can carry one nuclear warhead.
It entered service in 2006 with Russian ground forces, Armenian ground forces, and Algerian people’s national army and has been used in combat during the 2008 Russo-Georgia war, Syria war, Nagorno-Karabak war, and Ukraine war.
Iskander ballistic missile has a mass of 3800kg and is 7.3 m in length with a diameter of 0.92m, a warhead of between 459-700 kg including a thermonuclear warhead.
It has a single-propelled solid engine with an operational range of between 50-500km, maximum speeds of up 5.9 March, and accuracy of 5-7 meters. It has been used in Ukraine to hit military facilities and military equipment including fuel depots and air defense systems.
The kinzhal hypersonic cruise missile.
Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missile or the dagger is a Russian nuclear-capable aero-ballistic air-to-surface missile with a range of 2000km and more than 10 March speeds. It has both conventional and nuclear warheads and can be launched from a Tu-22 M3 nuclear-capable bomber or mig-31K interceptor fighter jet, the weapon is deployed with the Russian military in the southern military district and western military district.
It entered service but is still in production and has seen combat in Ukraine, it’s used by Russia’s Aerospace forces and can carry warheads of up to 500kg and nuclear warheads with power (100-500 kT) fragmentation. It has a solid-fueled engine and accuracy of 1 m.
It has been used in Ukraine to destroy NATO training centers in Lviv Western Ukraine and Ukraine air defense systems and it’s unclear how many have been used so far.
Although other countries like China have hypersonic missiles in service, Russia is the first country to use them in combat in Ukraine.
Bastion-P coastal defense system.
The K-300 Bastion-P coastal with NATO reporting name SS-C-5 stooge is a Russian mobile coastal defense missile system developed by Russia-Belarus with a mass of 3000kg.
The system has two versions, an anti-ship and surface to surface missile system. It entered into service in 2015 and is used by Russia, Vietnam, and Syria and has seen combat in Syria and Ukraine.
It has a length of 8.9m, a diameter of 0.7m, a warhead of 250kg semi-armor piercing HE and delays fuze mechanism, ramjet of the engine of 4 tons of thrust, flight ceiling of 14000m, speeds of up 2.5 March and comes with active-passive radar seeker head with a range of 350 km against the sea and 450 km against land-based targets.
Bastion-P coastal defense system has been used to hit targets in Ukraine’s western part destroying military weapons Depot, those weapons are said to have been supplied by western countries and from the beginning, Russia warned that they will be legitimate targets.
Unlike when the military operation had begun in Ukraine, Russia’s military has started using more long-range precision weapons to hit targets deep inside Ukraine or on the battlefront in order to minimize casualties. The intense use of such weapons has forced president Zelensky of Ukraine to call for negotiations.
