The Russian navy practised and fired Moskit supersonic anti-ship missiles at a dummy target in the Sea of Japan, according to the Russian Defense Ministry on March 28.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed in a statement on the social media platform Telegram that “Missile ships of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit supersonic anti-ship missiles at an object presumed to be an enemy target in the Sea of Japan.” Two Moskit supersonic anti-ship missiles directly struck this target, which was determined to be at a distance of around 100 kilometres.
The development of the Moskit supersonic low-altitude anti-ship cruise missile started in 1973. It uses an air-jet propulsion system. This missile is intended to annihilate surface ships with a larger displacement. 20,000 tonnes maximum, if it can withstand current and hypothetical enemy fire and electronic attack methods. This missile can go up to 250 km in a high-altitude flight configuration and up to 10 km to 120 km in a low-altitude orbit.
Due to its extremely high speed—nearly three times the speed of sound—the Russian Moskit missile, known by NATO as Sunburn, is highly challenging to intercept. Also, Moskit flies at a very low altitude (about 20 metres) before descending to a height of 7 metres as it approaches its target. Although not the most advanced weapon, since Russia stopped manufacturing it in 2014, there is still no missile in the West with features similar to this one.
