KALIBR CRUISE MISSILE | UPSC Current Affairs

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Context: A Russian submarine in the Sea of Japan has hit a land target over 1,000 kilometres away with a Kalibr cruise missile in a drill, Russia's defence ministry sai, the same type of missile Moscow uses in the Ukraine conflict.

Details:

The 3M-54 Kalibr is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by the Novator Design Bureau (OKB-8).
It first saw service in 1994.
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, while subsonic versions have greater range than the supersonic variants.
The missile can carry a warhead weighing up to 500 kilograms of explosive or a thermonuclear warhead.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q) Which of the following statements is/are correct with reference to Kalibr Cruise Missile?

a. Kalibr is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by the Novator Design Bureau.

b. The missile can carry a warhead weighing up to 500 kilograms of explosive or a thermonuclear warhead.

Only a
Only b
Both a and b
Neither a nor b

Answer: Option 3

https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-sub-launches-cruise-missile-sea-japan-drill-2023-03-03/