RK-55 Granat

RK-55 Granat, NATO SS-N-21 Sampson in its sea-launched form, was developed by the Soviet Union as a long-range land-attack cruise missile. It was part of a broader Cold War move toward low-flying cruise missiles able to penetrate air defenses and strike strategic targets. CSIS describes the RK-55/Granat as a submarine- and ground-launched intermediate-range cruise missile produced from the late 1970s. The ground-launched Relief variant was affected by the INF Treaty, while the submarine-launched family remained associated with naval nuclear strike.

Technically, RK-55 Granat was a subsonic cruise missile designed for long-range flight at low altitude. Public profiles describe terrain-contour matching or related navigation concepts, giving it the ability to approach targets below radar coverage for much of its route. Its nuclear payload role distinguished it from purely tactical anti-ship weapons. The missile's value came from stealthy routing, range, and launch-platform flexibility rather than speed. It should be categorized as a strategic/theatre land-attack cruise missile.

Operationally, Granat gave submarines a way to strike land targets without surfacing or closing to short range. That complicated NATO defense planning because attack submarines could carry nuclear land-attack cruise missiles in addition to torpedoes and anti-ship weapons. Arms-control limits and post-Soviet modernization changed the missile's role over time, but the system remains important historically as the Soviet counterpart to Western nuclear cruise-missile concepts. It bridges naval warfare, nuclear strategy, and missile proliferation history.