Russia restores powerful Soviet-era anti-ship complex to protect Crimea
The American magazine National Interest has published an article assessing the Utes missiles deployed at the launch silo in Crimea. The author of the article, Michael Peck, noted that to date, the Utes complex has restored its combat readiness "successfully and on time."
The project of the Utes coastal anti-ship tactical combat complex with P-35B cruise missiles began in 1961. The weapon was developed for quite a long time, and was installed in Crimea in 1971. At the end of April 1972, the complex was put into "combat readiness" status and officially entered service in the spring of 1973.
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| Utes coastal anti-ship tactical combat group. Photo: Sputnik |
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the system was transferred to the Ukrainian Navy, however, it has not been operated since at least 1997, and is completely degraded. The restoration and modernization of the Utes was only completed after Crimea returned to the Russian Federation in 2016.
As the author of the article in The National Interest commented, the modernization of the weapons system is "a signal that Moscow is determined to hold on to Crimea". This missile complex is a "real battleship killer".
Why is a weapon system that is not new and is well known to the Americans so worrying? Russian military expert in the field of artillery and missiles Alexey Leonkov said that Utes is actually designed to destroy targets on the surface of the water.
The main weapon - the P-35 anti-ship cruise missile - is not new, but it has several important characteristics that make it a very suitable weapon today, including a range of 300 km and a speed of 1.8 Mach (2226.5 km/h).
The missile can carry a 560 kg conventional explosive warhead or a "20 kiloton special nuclear warhead", enough to destroy warships of the 1st and 2nd categories: cruisers, destroyers, landing ships or large transport ships.
In addition, the Utes complex is now equipped with modernized 3M44 missiles with an increased range of up to 460 km, preliminary radio guidance to the target. When detecting a group of enemy ships, the 3M44 missile activates the homing warhead, selects the largest target and attacks with high precision.
But of course the enemy will not sit idly by and wait to be destroyed. They will certainly detect the missile launch and activate their electronic warfare and air defense systems. They always have enough effective air defense weapons to repel the attack...
"When the P-35 missile was upgraded to 3M44, the homing warhead was fundamentally rebuilt, - said Alexei Leonkov. The missile can operate in conditions of strong enemy electronic suppression - jamming.
And the only NATO means capable of intercepting the P-35 was the American Bendix RIM-8 Talos air defense missile (which has been withdrawn from service). It is clear that the Utes have proven their reliability and can be further modernized.
As part of the coastal defense system against "uninvited guests", the Utes silo-launcher complex can operate together with the Ball and Bastion mobile complexes equipped with Kh-35 and P-800 missiles.
