A video has emerged showing a test launch of a Kalibr cruise missile from a Russian Navy Marshal Shaposhnikov, Russia’s upgraded Udaloy-class destroyer going spectacularly wrong. The maneuvers during which the missiles were apparently launched involved two groups of Pacific Fleet ships underway in the Sea of Japan, in early April. The live-firing drills, which included the use of both missiles and guns, were described as “a control check during the winter training period.”
The missile malfunction involves one of the Kalibr NK cruise missiles that were added to the ship as part of its refit. These are deployed from the 3S14 vertical launch system that has 16 cells for Kalibr family missiles, and which can also accommodate the Oniks supersonic anti-ship cruise missile and potentially the hypersonic Tsirkon cruise missile. It then crashes into the sea, where it continues to burn, not far from the ship, leaving a boiling whirlpool behind it.
Marshal Shaposhnikov is a Udaloy-class destroyer of the Russian Navy commissioned in 1985. The vessel serves in the Russian Pacific Fleet. Her namesake is marshal Boris Shaposhnikov. In 2017 the ship received upgrades to its weapon systems and sensors. The upgrade included vertical launch system 3S14 with 16 cells for Kalibr family missiles, and 2 launchers 3S24 for quadruple 3M24 missile complex.
The 3M-54 Kalibr (NATO codenames SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A) is a group of Russian surface ship-, submarine-launched and airborne anti-ship and coastal anti ship (AShM), land attack cruise missiles (LACM) and anti-submarine missiles developed by the Novator Design Bureau (OKB-8). Club is the designation used for the export versions. The Kalibr has an estimated range of around 1,500 to 2,500 km and has become a mainstay in the Russian Navy’s ground-strike capabilities.
