The Homeland Security Newswire reports on a new weapons-in-a-box system, called Club-K, being marketed by a Russian defense manufacturer.
The idea behind a weapons-in-a-box system, according to the article, is for it to be “light enough to be driven about by a Humvee or a similar vehicle, parachuted down from a transport plane, dropped off by helicopter, tied down on the deck of a ship or barge, etc.” It has its own communications and power, and requires no operating crew. Missiles are launched remotely, and uses GPS satellite and inertial navigation, and can attack with the precision of a smart bomb.
The new system is being marketed by a Russian defense manufacturer, Kontsern-Morinformsistema-Agat, and can hide cruise missiles inside a standard 40-foot shipping container. Reuters describes a promotional video as showing how “an ordinary shipping container with the Club-K inside could be hidden among other containers on a train or a ship. When required, the roof lifts off and the four missiles stand upright ready to fire.”
Robert Hewson of Jane’s Defense Weekly, who first disclosed its existence, told Reuters that the “idea that you can hide a missile system in a box and drive it around without anyone knowing is pretty new. Nobody’s ever done that before.” This poses new threats, as Reuben Johnson, a Pentagon defense consultant, told the Telegraph. He said that this is “ballistic missile proliferation on a scale we have not seen before because now you cannot readily identify what’s being used as a launcher because it’s very carefully disguised. Someone could sail off your shore looking innocuous then the next minute big explosions are going off at your military installations.”
Reuters quotes Mikhail Barabanov, a defense expert at Russia’s Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), as saying that the system is still in the concept stage, and that “potential clients include anyone who likes the idea.” This echoes a statement in the Telegraph that Iran and Venezuela have already shown interest in the Club-K.
Further reading: Homeland Security Newswire, Reuters, Telegraph