Don't certain variants of the Klub missile family feature dive down attacks? Also, i'm positive some of them feature a torpedo, which is a nice idea, avoiding the RAM and phalanx defences. Anyway, if it's not the club missile which does the vertical dive towards the target then it's some ither- but i'm positive i saw some russian missiles featuring such ability. It is, however, questionable if that's such a good thing since a ballistic trajectory is easier to detect/track and intercept. And if it does the high altitude pop up only in the last 30 or so km that it's gonna get detected anyway, by doing that pop up it's sure to prolongue its exposure to the US defences, giving them more time to react.
A question: Does US count on its E2s on detecting and tracking the missiles below them, while they're still hundered or more km away from the ship they're attacking? Or is the wide spread confidence that the fleet can deal with any kind of antiship missile attack based purely on the capabilities of ship based radars? at mach 3, a missile needs only half a minute to hit the ship from the point where it pops up from the horizon. What is the time needed for the first standard to be launched, upon detection of the incoming missile? How many standards can be fired within 30 seconds from one ship? How many ESSMs? how many RAMs can be launched within 10 seconds?