The P-700 ''Granit'' (; ) is a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russian naval anti-ship

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

. Its

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

designation is 3M45, its

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

SS-N-19 ''Shipwreck''. It comes in

surface-to-surface A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed installations, or from a ship. They ar ...

and submarine-launched variants, and can also be used against ground targets.Video: Russia’s Oscar-II SSN Tomsk launches cruise missile against coastal target
- Navyrecognition.com, 13 July 2017 (erroneous citation)

Design and building

The P-700 was designed in the 1970s to replace the P-70 Ametist and

P-120 Malakhit The P-120 Malakhit ( 'Malachite'; NATO reporting name: SS-N-9 Siren, GRAU designation: 4K85) is a Soviet medium range anti-ship missile used by corvettes and submarines. Introduced in 1972, it remains in service but has been superseded by the P-2 ...

, both effective missiles but with too short a range in the face of improving weapons of

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

carrier battle groups. The missile was partially derived from the

P-500 Bazalt The P-500 ''Bazalt'' (; ) is a turbojet-powered, supersonic cruise missile used by the Soviet Navy, Soviet and Russian Navy, Russian navies. Its GRAU designation is 4K80 and its NATO reporting name is SS-N-12 ''Sandbox'', its upgraded version bei ...

. Built by Chelomei/ NPO Mashinostroenia, the bulging 10 m missile has swept-back wings and tail, weighs around 7,000 kilograms and can be fitted with either a 750 kg HE

warhead A warhead is the section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket (weapon), rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: *E ...

, a FAE warhead, or a 500 kt

thermonuclear Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei, nuclei/neutron by-products. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of ener ...

warhead. A stubby cylindrical solid-fuel rocket is fitted to the rear for launch; this booster stage is released when the missile enters sustained flight. For many years it was believed that this missile used a turbojet engine during the sustained flight; after Russian and Western media gained access to its performance characteristics, it was understood that its propulsion system was a

ramjet A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to . Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...

. The P-700 has a distinctive annular air intake in the nose. Maximum speed is believed to be between Mach 1.6 and Mach 2.5. Range has been estimated at 400 km, 500 km, and 550–625 km. The guidance system is mixed-mode, with

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning ...

, terminal

active radar homing Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a passive radar, receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track it ...

guidance and also anti-radar homing. Mid-course correction is probable. It is widely claimed that the missile, when fired in a swarm (group of 4–8) has a unique guidance mode. One of the weapons climbs to a higher altitude and designates targets while the others attack. The missile responsible for target designation climbs in short pop-ups, so as to be harder to intercept. The missiles are linked by data connections, forming a network. If the designating missile is destroyed the next missile will rise to assume its purpose. Missiles are able to differentiate targets, detect groups and prioritize targets automatically using information gathered during flight and types of ships and battle formations pre-programmed in an onboard computer. They will attack targets in order of priority, highest to lowest: after destroying the first target, any remaining missiles will attack the next prioritized target. Such description received some doubts. The missile has a means of countering the attacking anti-missiles. Also, the on-board computer carries data designed to counter an enemy's electronic warfare and to evade counter-measures. The P-700 was derived from the

missile with a turbojet. The P-700 was in turn developed into the

P-800 Oniks The P-800 Oniks (; ), marketed in export as the Yakhont (; ), is a Soviet/Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr. Its GRAU designation is 3M55, the air launched Kh-61 vari ...

, which uses ramjet propulsion, and the

BrahMos The BrahMos (also designated as PJ-10)Kirov'' (now the ''Admiral Ushakov'') in 1980 and the missile entered service on 19 July 1983. Unusually for an aircraft carrier, the ''Kuznetsov''-class also carried 12 Granit launchers. This gave the ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' an additional primary attack capability, but also had the political advantage of classing the vessel as an

aircraft cruiser The aircraft cruiser (also known as aviation cruiser or cruiser-carrier) is a warship that combines the features of the aircraft carrier and a surface warship such as a cruiser or battleship. Early types The first aircraft cruiser was original ...

instead. Unconfirmed reports say that the missiles were removed in 2000, to provide more aircraft hangar space. Smolensk shoots P-700

It is currently in service with the Russian Northern Fleet on the s '' Admiral Nakhimov'' and '' Pyotr Velikyi'', and with the Russian Northern and Pacific fleets as the main weapon of the cruise missile

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s. The ''

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

'' carried 24 missiles when it sank following a torpedo explosion during an exercise on 12 August 2000. The Russian navy was extremely concerned about possible NATO attempts to recover a missile and guarded the site of the wreck throughout the recovery effort. The missiles were recovered intact following a $65 million salvage operation. The size of the missile limits the platforms on which it can operate and be launched from. It has only been deployed from ''Oscar''-class submarines, ''Kirov''-class battlecruisers, and the ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' aircraft carrier. Ships of all three types will have their Granit missiles replaced with new launch cells to carry smaller Oniks and Kalibr cruise missiles in greater numbers.

P-1000 Vulkan deployment

The P-1000 missile was partially derived from the P-500 and P-700. Its maximum speed is claimed to be between Mach 1.5 - Mach 2.5 depending on altitude, and its range is claimed to be between 700 and 1000 km (800). Warhead: 500 kg. Years of production 1985–1992. The body of the missile resembles that of the P-500, but it has the ability of the P-700 to overcome defensive countermeasures. Long range missile can achieve the target only at low altitudes (up to 25 meters or lower) approximation (in which case the maximum range is less than 500 km).

Substitution in 2018

Officially - are being replaced by the Zircon (missile).

Operators

; Current operator * ** ;Former operators * **

References

* ''Jane's Underwater Weapon Systems 2006–2007''

External links