The Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, reported that two Kalibr cruise missiles launched by Russian navy ships against Ukraine entered the airspace of Romania. The missiles were reportedly launched by assets of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet. The missiles were detected at the Ukrainian border on February 10, 2023, at 10.18 am (local time), and entered Romanian airspace at 10.33 am. The Romanian Ministry of Defense observed a launch from the sea, it claims that the missile remained 35 km from the Romanian-Ukrainian border.
The 3M-54 Kalibr (NATO reporting name SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A) is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by the Novator Design Bureau (OKB-8). There are ship-launched, submarine-launched and air-launched versions of the missile, and variants for anti-ship, anti-submarine and land attack use. Some versions have a second propulsion stage that initiates a supersonic sprint in the terminal approach to the target, reducing the time that target’s defense systems have to react. The missile can carry a warhead weighing up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of explosive or a thermonuclear warhead.
The missile is a modular system with five versions: two anti-shipping types, one for land attack and two anti-submarine types. The missile is designed to share common parts between the surface and submarine-launched variants but each missile consists of different components, for example, the booster. The missile can be launched from a surface ship using a vertical launching system (VLS). It has a booster with thrust vectoring capability. The missile launched from a submarine torpedo tube has no need for such an addition but has a conventional booster instead. The air launched version is held in a container that is dropped as the missile launches.
Russian Navy uses the 3M14, 3M54, 3M54-1, 91R1, 91RT2. Submarine-launched variants (entered service in 2016) are used by Kilo-class submarine, Lada-class submarine, Akula-class submarine, Oscar II-class submarine and the Yasen-class submarine. Surface ship launched variants are used by the Gremyashchy class, Karakurt class, Buyan-M class corvettes, Gepard class, Admiral Gorshkov class and the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates. The Black Sea Fleet vessels able to launch the LACM are: 6 Improved Kilo-class submarines, 4 Buyan-M class corvettes and 3 Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates.
