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| US Tomahawk Missiles vs Russian Kalibr-M Missiles |
International Military - The Tomahawk missile is an all-weather subsonic cruise missile used for deep ground attack warfare. The missile can be launched from US Navy surface ships and US Navy and British Royal Navy submarines. The Tomahawk Block IV (Tactical Tomahawk, TLAM-E), the conventional variant, entered the Fleet in 2004.
This missile adds the ability to reprogram the missile while in flight via two-way satellite communications. This is done to attack one of 15 pre-programmed alternative targets. It can also be used to direct missiles to Global Positioning System (GPS) target coordinates.
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The Navy received its first Block V-configured Tomahawk missile from Raytheon in March 2021. The first Block V missile comes from the existing Tomahawk Block IV inventory and has been recertified and modernized for fleet use.
The Tomahawk cruise missile is designed to fly at very low altitudes at high subsonic speeds. Then, it can also be steered on evasive routes by several mission-adapted guidance systems. The missile's first operational use was in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
Meanwhile, the missile has also been used successfully in several other conflicts. On the other hand, there are Kalibr missiles which are just as advanced as the Tomahawk. Reporting from military-history.fandom.com, there are five versions of the missile, namely two anti-ship types, one for land attack, and two anti-submarine types.
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The missile is designed to share equal parts between surface-launched and submarine-launched variants. However, each missile consists of different components, such as a booster. The missile can be launched from surface ships using the Vertical Launch System (VLS).
The booster is also reinforced with thrust vectoring capabilities. The ground attack versions of the Kalibr used by Russia have various maximum range claims. It is believed that the conventionally armed version has a range of 2,500 km (1,600 mi).
The nuclear-armed Kalibr, on the other hand, has a further range of 2,600 km. Russia developed this missile into two variants. The first is the domestic variant, namely the 3M54 and the export 3M54E/3M54TE. Both can perform sub-sonic speeds while reaching supersonic speeds as they approach their target.
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They are also capable of performing very high-angle defensive high-speed maneuvers in contrast to the common linear flight path of other anti-ship cruise missiles. One of these missile operations was during the Syrian Civil War. On 7 October 2015, a Gepard-class frigate and three Russian Navy Buyan-M-class corvettes, part of the Caspian Fleet, launched 26 Kalibr-NK 3M14T cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea at 11 targets in Syria.
So, which one is the most superior between the Tomahawk missile and the Kalibr missile?
Citing the Naval Post, the Kalibr suite is designed to be compared to Washington's Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Kalibr-M drastically outperformed its US counterpart at 4,500 against 1,700 kilometers.
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The most significant advantage of the 3M14T and its family is that they can be fired from a variety of smaller vessels than the American ships that normally carry the Tomahawk. This makes it easier for him to use.
In addition, this missile is also being developed to fire from fixed ground bases, vehicles and aircraft. Kalibr may not have some of the advanced interactive browsing and data link capabilities of Tomahawk today. However, that might make it cheaper to mass-produce (besides the commonality of parts with family variants).
At its core, the Tomahawk is an aging device. Meanwhile, Kalibr is constantly being updated and even quite a few versions have been created.