Free Republic

On Oct. 7, Russian warships in the Caspian Sea fired 26 high-tech cruise missiles at rebel targets in Syria—a staggering 1,000 miles away. The missiles in question, which the Pentagon calls SS-N-30s, were mostly unknown to the outside world before the Oct. 7 raid. Even close watchers of the Russian military were surprised to see them. The missile attack was also highly visible. In many ways, it was an announcement to the world, and America in particular, that the once-dilapidated Russian navy is back in action—and that Putin’s missileers are now among the planet’s most advanced. Planning for the missile...

PHOTOs: Sizzler approximator unveiled By Stephen Trimble on January 10, 2011 Photos of the first ATK-built ZGQM-173A multi-stage supersonic target (MSST) have now appeared on the web. The US Navy is developing MSST to simulate the flight profile of Russia's Novator 3M-54 Klub, which is also named the SS-N-27 Sizzler by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). If it's pointed at you, the Klub is a hard missile to beat. It's designed to skim over wave-tops subsonically, boost to near-hypersonic speeds in a brief climb, dive back to the surface and then weave its way toward the intended target --...