Despite the sanctions, Russia continues to manufacture missiles and launch them towards Ukraine. Not all of them work as intended and a lot of them are taken down by air defence systems. For example, in Kyiv the warhead of one Kh-101 simply did not explode and was taken away for disposal. Interestingly, this is not an old missile – it was produced in 2023.
An unexploded warhead of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, found in Kyiv on January 23rd, 2024. Image credit: Kyivcity.gov.ua via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
Oleg Katkov, editor-in-chief of the Defense Express, told NV radio in an interview about the Russian Kh-101 missile, the warhead of which, produced in 2023, did not explode. It was collected in Kyiv on January 23, where it was lying near apartment buildings.
Katkov claims that the warhead of the missile was manufactured in late 2023 and was installed on the Kh-101 missile very recently. The assembly of these missiles is carried out near Moscow. Therefore, the warhead was manufactured, installed in the missile and instead of travelling to storage, as is normally done,”it immediately travelled to the air base, was hung under the Tu-95MS plane, which launched it towards Kyiv.”
Katkov described it as a new trend – the serial numbers on Russian cruise missile wreckage indicate that they were recently produced. Typically, the oldest missiles are used for such operations first, as they have expiration dates.
But now Russia is attacking Ukraine with newer and newer missiles, because apparently they no longer have the old ones. Or they are just in a hurry and want to cut logistics costs – they don’t want to transport new missiles to warehouses and pull older weapons from them. Missiles are being launched to attack Ukraine almost straight from the factory.
The warhead was collected and taken out of the city for disposal. Image credit: Kyivcity.gov.ua via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
It should also be noted that the warhead did not explode. Looks like Ukrainian air defence shot down that Kh-101, it fell apart and its warhead fell close to residential buildings. But Ukrainian military experts have previously said that Russians have problems with quality control and their missiles often do not work as intended.
The Kh-101 is an air-launched cruise missile in service since 2012. This weapon is based on the Kh-55, which has been in use since 1983. Interestingly, the Kh-101 managed to improve even during this war – now these missiles have protections against electronic warfare and shoot flares to fool IR-seeking air defence missiles.
Those upgrades may also be the reason why Russia uses such new missiles – they have those improvements. And they are still being shot down in Ukraine. Before the war, the Kh-101 was estimated to cost about $13 million. It is likely to be more expensive now due to scarcity of materials and a shaken up Russian economy.
Written by Povilas M.