Russian Corvette Smerch Conducted Live Missile Firing

According to the press release of Russian Pacific fleet, upgraded corvette “Smerch” has held its first live-fire exercise, launching an Uran anti-ship cruise missile against a naval target during shipbuilders’ sea trials.

“The Kh-35 cruise missile successfully struck a drifting surface target at a distance of over 50 km from the warship within the designated time. A total of ten warships and auxiliary vessels, and also aircraft of the Pacific Fleet’s naval aviation were involved to provide for the combat exercise,” the press office said in a statement.

The missile corvette Smerch earlier held a firing exercise in the Peter the Great Bay to test a new AK-176MA 76mm shipborne universal automatic gun and a modernized AK-630 30mm six-barrel automatic naval artillery system.

The upgrade of the missile corvette Smerch started at the North-Eastern Repair Center in 2017. Over this period, the warship has been rearmed with Uran cruise missiles to replace the Malakhit missile system. Now the Smerch carries 16 Uran cruise missiles. The shipbuilders have repaired some of the warship’s systems and assemblies and installed more advanced equipment.

The missile corvette Smerch is set to rejoin the Pacific Fleet’s constant alert forces by the end of the year.

KH-35 (Uran) Anti-Ship Missile :

Kh-35 (Russian: Х-35 , AS-20 ‘Kayak’) is a Russian turbojet subsonic cruise anti-ship missile. The same missile can also be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defence batteries with the help of a rocket booster, in which case it is known as Uran (‘Uranus’, SS-N-25 ‘Switchblade’, GRAU 3M24) or Bal (‘Ball’, SSC-6 ‘Sennight’, GRAU 3K60). It is designed to attack vessels up to 5,000 tonnes.