The Yakhont missile is an asymmetric response to a threat from the sea

Ships of the Russian navy make long trips, but their main task is to protect their native shores. For decades, the Soviet, and then the Russian fleet did not have offensive potential. A consequence of this situation is the relatively small efforts undertaken by Western countries to create anti-ship systems.

The Russian Defense Ministry, on the contrary, was concerned with the problem of effectively countering a possible attack from the sea. The response to the hypertrophied development of the naval forces of countries traditionally considered as probable adversaries turned out to be asymmetric. Instead of achieving a parity number of expensive ships, Russian machine-building NGOs developed a number of systems that allow them to deal with surface targets, among which the most famous was the Yakhont cruise missile.

It can not be said that American or European designers have been idle all the previous decades. They created many samples of anti-ship missiles, the best of which is considered to be "Harpoon". It can be selected to the target at low altitude and with quite a decent speed - 865 km / h, it is difficult to detect radar.

The Yakhont rocket has several better characteristics. It can fly at a height of five meters (if, of course, the excitement allows), and its speed exceeds 3000 km / h. On approach to the target, the missile makes a "hill" and falls on it, accelerating to 750 m / sec. The weight of the combat charge compartment is not less than 300 kg. Thus, with the minimum time spent on detection, it is already impossible to do anything. For comparison: the artillery shell after the shot flies at a speed of 350 m / s, and to reject it from the goal so far no one has succeeded.

Anti-ship missiles "Yakhont" can be launched from various carriers, such as airplanes, diesel submarines, missile boats, mobile ground installations. According to military experts, Western designers will not be able to create analogs in the next decade, let alone mass production of such systems. Moreover, none of the existing missile defense systems are able to withstand the Russian monster.

One Yakhont missile can launch a medium-tonnage ship (frigate or corvette) to the bottom and seriously damage a large ship, and, if necessary, will do so with an absolute guarantee.

However, not only high speed distinguishes new Russian weapons from Western models. The designers paid special attention to the low visibility of the low-flying target. The thermal trace is reduced to a minimum, which makes it difficult to detect the launch site by the satellite and calculate the trajectory, and a reliable ultra-high-speed computing unit provides a high degree of stabilization of the ultra-low altitude.

The Yakhont missile was designed for the Russian armed forces, but it turned out that it has a high export potential. With some constructive changes, small quantities of arms were delivered to Vietnam, Indonesia and Iran.

The success of the recent peaceful settlement of the situation in the Middle East, in addition to the high authority of President Putin, is another possible explanation. Probably, the special services of the NATO countries have learned that there are missiles "Yakhont" in Syria.