New Russian cruise missile submarine fires Kalibr missile in the Barents Sea
Northern Fleet Yasen-M class K-562 Arkhangelsk conducted her Kalibr missile certification firing on 22 May paving the way for deployment during 2025
Russian Northern Fleet Pr.885M Yasen-M class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine (SSGN) K-562 “Arkhangelsk” conducted a Kalibr (NATO: SS-N-30A) cruise missile firing from the Barents Sea to Chiza during the forenoon, 22 May 2025.
The firing was conducted in a west-east orientation within announced closure area PRIP 145/25 and was supported by surface ships including Pr.1164 Slava class missile cruisers RKR-055 “Marshal Ustinov” and at least one Northern Fleet aviation asset, likely an Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft.
K-562 Arkhangelsk was highly likely located at the western end of PRIP 145/25, around 30NM north east of Cape Teriberskiy, and conducted a waypoint configured Kalibr cruise missile launch towards a littoral target located in the Cheskaya Bay area, around 300NM to the east in the White Sea area.
Comment
K-562 Arkhangelsk is the Northern Fleet’s newest nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine and commissioned into the Northern Fleet on 28 December 2024 having not completed a Kalibr cruise missile firing during manufacturer’s sea trials in the White Sea in 2024.
It is therefore, highly likely this event was a Kalibr weapon system certification firing and K-562 should now be considered certified to fire the full range of her missile armament (SS-N-26/SS-N-27A/SS-N-30A - but not SS-N-33 Zircon).
Following further work-up activity and L3 certification training, it is likely K-562 Arkhangelsk could conduct and operational deployment, highly likely out-of-area, during mid-late 2025 time scale.