Council on Foreign Relations:
The Russian Navy’s initial firing of twenty-six cruise missiles from ships in the Caspian Sea into Syria yesterday generated little effect on the Syrian battlefield—but that may not be the primary objective. Russian President Vladimir Putin capitalized on this opportunity to showcase this new sea-based, long range precision strike capability as a strategic messaging tool aimed at a variety of audiences:
- The international community. The American monopoly on the employment of long range, precision strike weapons is over. Additionally, even though this strike was executed from the land-locked Caspian Sea, it was a demonstration of Russian naval capability which inherently means Russian global capability. However, the Russians will need to secure access to port facilities for logistics sustainment to deploy this capability beyond the European theater, as I wrote last week.
- The United States. This event clearly demonstrated Russian naval capability and the will to employ it. Additionally, the Russians demonstrated the submerged launch of a “Kalibr” missile from their newest “Yasen” class nuclear- powered submarine back in 2012 that enables them employ this strike capability from the cloaking of the sea. It has been reportedthat the “Yasen” is quieter than the U.S. Navy’s venerable “Los Angeles” class submarine; the U.S. Navy is working diligently to rebuild the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability and proficiency of its air, ship, and submarine forces to defend the homeland against the threat of land-attack cruise missile-equipped Russian submarines.
- Europe and NATO. All of Europe is now at risk from conventional precision naval strike; any fixed target can be struck by the Russian Navy while operating from the freedom of maneuver afforded by the maritime domain. This long-range strike capability can be employed far beyond the reach of maritime coastal defenses, which will force NATO & other European countries to review their Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (MISR) and ASW capabilities to detect the presence of Russian naval vessels; sea control capability to destroy those vessels if necessary; and cruise missile defense capability to protect against any “leaker” missiles that make it through those two layers of defense….
