Sub-launched cruise missile hits target near Novaya Zemlya
Northern fleet continues to play war-game in the Barents Sea.
A Granit cruise-missile was Sunday launched from the submarine «Smolensk» in submerged position in the Barents Sea, the military TV-channel Zvezda reports with reference to press-spokesman Vadim Serga with the Northern fleet.
The cruise missile hit a underwater near the north coast of Novaya Zemlya, an Russian archipelago in the Arctic that is closed off military zone.
«Smolensk» is an 30-years old Oscar-II class submarine, one of the sister vessels to the ill-fated «Kursk» submarine that sank in the Barents Sea during an exercise in August 2000.
Since mid-September, the Russian navy has been very busy with several exercises and missile launches from in the Barents Sea. As previously reported by the Barents Observer, several navigation restrictions for civilian vessels have been announced, partly covering larger areas of both the Barents Sea and the White Sea.
Last week, a Delta-IV class nuclear powered submarine launched a Sineva ballistic missile from the Barents Sea as part of a larger drill involving Russia’s strategic nuclear weapon forces.
