After BrahMos, Indian Navy To Buy 20 More Klub Anti-Ship Missiles From Russia

The Indian Navy is negotiating with Russia for acquisition of twenty Klub Anti-Ship missile systems, reported ANI.

This is in addition to the costlier BrahMos supersonic anti-ship and land attack missile system, which the Indian Navy operates from its various warships and has a maximum strike range of more than 290 km.

These systems are being bought by the Navy since the Klub missiles — which travels at subsonic speeds, is significantly cheaper than the $4.5-5 million a piece, BrahMos missile.

It is noteworthy that the Indian Navy already operates multiple variants of the Klub Anti-Ship missile from its Sindhughosh (Kilo) class submarines, Shivalik and Talwar (Krivak-III) class frigates.

The Klub missile has a range of 300 km and carries a warhead of 200 kg with a maximum speed of 0.8 Mach. The Russian Navy has successfully used its longer-range variant — 'Kaliber', in the Russia-Ukraine war to strike various strategic targets inside Ukrainian territory.

The missile follows a sea-skimming trajectory and has an anti-GPS jamming receiver to perform effectively in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) denied environments.

Additionally, according to the report, the Indian Navy is also planning to buy one Harpoon Joint Common Test Set (JCTS) from the US as well, at a cost of $80 million, which will include one Harpoon Intermediate Level maintenance station, spare and repair parts, support, and test equipment; publications and technical documentation; personnel training, etc.

The Indian Navy also operates Harpoon Anti-ship missiles from its Shishumar-class submarines, Maritime-Jaguars fighter bombers and P-8I Poseiden anti-submarine long-range patrol aircrafts.

As per the report, the total acquisition cost of both the Klub and the Harpoon missile is around $200 million.