Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia
Transnistria

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Arts and Culture

Economy

Politics

Security

Society

Coronavirus
X

Visual Stories

Audio
Interactive
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.

Russia Launches Another Long-Range Missile From Caspian

Joshua Kucera Oct 30, 2015
image Screenshot of Russian MoD-produced video of launch of Kalibr rocket from the Caspian Sea.

Less than a month after its first-ever launch of a cruise missile from the Caspian Sea, the Russian navy has done it again, this time as part of a large-scale test.

The test, which Russia's military said was aimed at testing its system of its missile command system, involved simultaneous launches of various sorts of missiles from land, aircraft and warships from Kamchatka to Komi to southern Russia. 

For Caspian watchers, the most interesting element of the exercise was the launch of a Kalibr missile from the ship Velikiy Ustyug of the Caspian Flotilla. This, recall, was one of the ships -- using the same type of missile -- that participated in the long-range strikes against Syrian targets earlier this month.

That test was widely interpreted as a demonstration of Russia's growing ability to strike targets from long distances. One American naval analyst said the test showed Russia's capacity for "distributed lethality," or dispersing its strike capability around many small sources.

"The Russians are adopting distributed lethality faster than the US,” said the analyst, Bryan Clark, a naval analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, in an interview with Defense News. “The arguments made for distributed lethality are to put firepower on a bunch of smaller ships, have them disperse, in turn increase targeting problems for the enemy, and you may be able to generate the same kind of firepower if you concentrate the platforms."

Friday's test is no doubt another demonstration of that ability, given the diversity of sources and types of missiles. This time, the Kalibr from the Caspian Sea was fired at a training target; neither the location of the target nor that of the ship was disclosed. Another test site was Russia's Kapustin Yar training ground, near the Kazakhstan border, where short-range Iskander missiles were launched.

The implications for the Caspian region itself are likely secondary (as was the case with the launches against Syria); the sea's role is largely as a staging ground with implications for other regions. But it is another demonstration that Russia sees the Caspian as a significant factor in its strategic calculations, and that in turn could either intimidate its Caspian neighbors, or make them more determined to build up their own defenses on the sea. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense video of the Kalibr launch from the Velikiy Ustyug:

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Popular

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan agreement advances Caspian gas cooperation
David O'Byrne
Turkmenistan: Big on gas, short on options
Chris Rickleton
China’s trade data confirm 2020 was a bleak year in Eurasia

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2021