Kursk’s 22 Granit cruise missiles will most probably be removed from the Russian Navy’s arsenals. Naval weapons specialists are to inspect all units now being removed from the wrecked submarine, a spokesman for the state military-industrial complex told news agency Itar-Tass today (Tuesday.)

        Not one missile was damaged during the disaster aboard the submarine, but Northern Fleet command has decided not to keep them in store or give permission for further use in submarines of the same class.

        After being examined for flaws, they are likely to be dismantled into units that can be used as spares in the future. Components of the missile firing systems and essential parts may be forwarded for further analysis to the weapons’ designers, it was reported.

        Alexander Leonov, deputy general-director of the research institute that designed the missiles, said experts intended to thoroughly examine all factors that could have had an impact on the armaments at the time of the catastrophe.

        Their findings would help improve modelling methods used in the production of such weapons, aimed at upgrading the reliability and safety of the navy’s arsenal in the 21st century, Leonov said.

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