In the late 1980s work began on a replacement for the Kh-55 cruise missile, with either conventional (Kh-101) or nuclear (Kh-102) warheads[3] and greater stealth. The new missile was designed by Igor Seleznyev of Raduga.[2] The importance of advanced missiles as "force multipliers" increased as Russia's fleet of available cruise-missile bombers declined in the early 1990s.[4] The cancellation of the ambitious Kh-90ramjet missile due to the INF Treaty in 1987 led to a renewed emphasis on improving on the Kh-55, in particular to achieve the <20 m accuracy required to hit infrastructure targets with conventional – as opposed to nuclear – warheads. The first flight of the Kh-101 was in 1998, and evaluation trials started in 2000.[3]
The first tests were conducted in 1995 and the missile was accepted for service in 2012.[5] The first pictures of the Kh-101 appeared in 2007.[6][7]
The Kh-101/102 is specifically designed for air launch, abandoning the circular fuselage cross-section of the Kh-55 for a nose and forward fuselage section aerodynamically shaped to produce lift. It is 7.45 m (24.4 ft) long with a launch weight of 2,200–2,400 kg (4,900–5,300 lb), and is equipped with a 400 kg (880 lb) high-explosive, penetrating, or cluster warhead, or a 250 kt nuclear warhead for the Kh-102. The missile is powered by a TRDD-50A turbojet producing 450 kgf of thrust to cruise at 700–720 km/h (Mach 0.57 – Mach 0.59) with a maximum speed of 970 km/h (Mach 0.79) while flying 30–70 m above the ground, and hit fixed targets using a pre-downloaded digital map for terrain following and GLONASS/INS for trajectory correction to achieve accuracy of 6–10 meters; it is claimed to be able to hit small moving targets such as vehicles using a terminal electro-optical sensor or imaging infrared system. The missiles are equipped with an onboard EW defence system as of late 2018.[8][9][10][11][12] It has a range of around 3,500 km.[13]
The Tu-95MS can carry eight of the weapons on under-wing pylons,[14] and the Tu-160 can be outfitted with two drum launchers each loaded with six missiles.
The Kh-SD tactical version was to have been carried by the Tu-95MS (fourteen missiles) and the Tu-22M (eight missiles).[15]
A Tu-160 bomber launching a Kh-101 cruise missile against targets in Syria, November 2015
In the course of the Russian bombing of Syria on 17 November 2015, Russian Defense Ministry reported that Tupolev Tu-95MS and Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers launched a total of 34 cruise missiles against 14 ISIL targets in Syria.[16][17] While the Tu-95MS used the Kh-55 cruise missile,[18] the Tu-160s were equipped with the Kh-101 in their first combat use.[17][19][20][21]
Russian news agency TASS reported on 17 November 2016 that modernized Tu-95MS armed with Kh-55 and Kh-101 cruise missiles had launched airstrikes against targets in Syria.[22][23]
On 17 February 2017, Tu-95MS strategic bombers, flying from the Russian territory through the airspace of Iran and Iraq, attacked purported ISIL facilities near the Syrian city of Raqqa with the Kh-101 cruise missiles. The targets included purported militant camps and training centers as well as a command center of a major ISIL unit.[citation needed] Russian Tu-95MS long-range bombers struck ISIL targets in Syria again on 5 July 2017, at a range of about 1,000 kilometers.[24][better source needed] On 26 September 2017, Russia's Tu-95MS strategic bombers carried out further missile strikes with Kh-101 on ISIL and the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda (now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) in the provinces of Idlib and Deir Ezzor.[25]
Russian invasion of Ukraine
Kh-101 wreckage discovered on 26 January 2023 in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine
The Kh-101 has been used extensively in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. US Department of Defense sources claimed that they experienced a not-insignificant failure rate: "either they're failing to launch, or they're failing to hit the target, or they're failing to explode on contact."[26]Ukraine at War: Paving the Road from Survival to Victory,[27] a July 2022 study published by the UK Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) for Defense and Security Studies, disagreed, noting that "as far as Ukrainian military scientists can determine, this is actually quite rare", with RUSI instead attributing the high rate of downed missiles to Ukrainian interception.
On 14 September 2022, Ukrainian MoD reported Russian forces used eight Kh-101 cruise missiles, probably from Tu-95MS bombers, to target various hydraulic structures in Kryvyi Rih. This caused the water level of the Inhulets river to rise sharply.[29] Previously it was reported that Kh-22 missiles had been used.[30]
According to Defense Express, analysis of wreckage and debris from a Kh-101 shot down over Ukraine in March 2024 indicates that starting from early 2024, the size of the Kh-101 warhead was increased from 450kg to 800kg. This increase was made possible by reducing the capacity of the fuel tank, which accordingly lowers the range of the missile.[32]
During the 8 July 2024 missile attacks six Kh-101 missiles hit the building of the Artem machine building plant in Kyiv.[33][34][35] Another Russian Kh-101 missile hit the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv in the same attack. One doctor and one adult civilian were killed[36] and 16 people, including seven children, were injured.[37] The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that Russia hit the hospital and claimed the destruction was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile. Pro-Russian sources variously described it as "an American Patriot air defense missile" or an AIM-120 AMRAAM.[38] Footage of the attack shows a Kh-101 cruise missile striking the hospital,[39][38] with the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine assessing a direct missile hit to have been 'highly likely'.[40] Images also showed remnants of a Kh-101 missile in the ruins of the hospital.[38]
Financial Times reported on 10 July 2024, citing an analysis by the Office of the President of Ukraine, that Russia surged the production of Kh-101 by eight times from 56 missiles before the war to 420 missiles in 2023 and also claimed that the missile uses more than 50 Western-made components.[41][42][43]
On the early morning of September 2, 2024, 14 Kh-101 missiles, part of a larger attack from Tu-95MS planes from Volgograd, were launched. Also, on the same day, fragments of a missile, allegedly the remains of a Kh-101, were removed in Kyiv.[44]
Variants
Kh-101 (NATO AS-23A "Kodiak") - conventional variant. During the war in Ukraine, starting in January 2023, Russia made use of a Kh-101 air-launched version, that releases decoy flares in flight.[45]
A variant of the Kh-101 has been used in the Russo-Ukrainian War, with a second high explosive warhead containing steel fragments. Increasing the total warhead weight from 450 kg to about 800 kg, this comes at the expense of range due to reduced fuel capacity.[46]
^Watling, Jack; Reynolds, Nick (4 July 2022). Ukraine at War - Paving the Road from Survival to Victory(PDF) (Report). Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
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