SSGN Severodvinsk to Obtain Caliber Cruise Missiles

14.08.2012 Lead submarine of Project 885 Yasen, SSGN Severodvinsk will be armed with supersonic cruise missiles Caliber which have no analogs worldwide with flight range exceeding 2,500 km, a source in Russian defense industry told reporters on Tuesday.

"The missile meets all defense ministry's requirements regarding range, accuracy, destructive effect, and in-flight survivability. Because of unique performance characteristics, none country has such missile at the present time", pointed out the source.

As for the expert, Caliber cruise missiles can be armed differently. "The missile will carry one-piece warhead. If it is conventional, the missile's flight range would exceed 2,500 km. If the warhead is kiloton-class nuclear one, flight range would be shorter", specified the interviewee.

"Caliber is a high-precision weapon, its probable error is not more than two or three meters while flight range is thousands of kilometers", he stressed.

On the other hand, the expert confirmed there were some problems in the sub's nuclear powerplant. "Indeed, there is a problem of high noisiness both at work by nuclear powerplant and at power transmission to the screw. It's not the fault of Sevmash shipwrights; there were designers who developed the nuclear reactor. All what the shipyard did was only planting the reactor into appropriate compartment", the interviewee explained.

"And now the matter depends on power engineers. They will have to reduce the sub's noisiness", said the source.