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Tactical Missiles Corp. Gives Details of Russian Kh-38 Family
Douglas Barrie (London), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
More information emerges on crucial next-generation Russian tactical missile program.
Russia’s premier guided-weapons manufacturer is beginning to provide some detail on a key range of air-launched missiles that are central to its future development and provide a core tactical capability for the air force. The system is also being proposed for export when it becomes available.
The Tactical Missiles Corp. is working on at least four versions of its Kh-38M air-to-surface missile, the basic configuration of which was shown for the first time at the Moscow air show in August 2007.
The Kh-38ML will use a semi-active laser seeker, the Kh-38MK will use Glonass satellite navigation, the Kh-38MT will have an electro-optical seeker and the Kh-38MA will be fitted with an active-radar seeker. All these variants will also use inertial guidance. The E designation, such as in the Kh-38MLE, identifies an export variant of the missile.
The Russian air force’s inventory of tactical air-to-surface weapons is based on designs that entered service in the 1970s and 1980s, and so are in need of a revamp. The Kh-38 program is central to this effort, though in the past it has suffered from inadequate development funding. The weapons family will also provide a future staple of air-to-surface weapons packages associated with Russian combat aircraft sales.
Alongside the Kh-38 family, more variants of which may also be later revealed, the company is also developing a fire-and-forget, increased-range version of its Kh-59M (AS-18 Kazoo) stand-off weapon. The Kh-59MK2 is believed to use some form of electro-optical target scene-matching for the terminal phase of engagement.
The Kh-38 program has been underway likely since the late 1980s or early 1990s as a replacement for the Zvezda Strela Kh-25 (AS-10 Karen) family of weapons. The Kh-38 will be used to meet some of the target set now met by the Vympel Kh 29 (AS-14 Kedge) missile. Karen variants were delivered in substantial numbers to the then-Soviet air force, and have also been widely exported.
Discussing the basic Kh-38 program with Aviation Week & Space Technology recently, Boris Obnosov, the company’s director general, said it is a “modular missile following the experience the corporation has gathered over the years. If you remember the example of the Kh-25, it replaces a number of previous-generation missiles types, such as the Kh-66 and Kh -23. We will use the same modular principle.”
Obnosov is keen to be able to offer the Kh-38. “I would like to suggest it to the market today . . . . I’d like it to be available as soon as possible,” he says.
The Kh-38 is significantly heavier than the Kh-25 family, at up to 520 kg. (1,146 lb.). The heaviest of the Kh-25 family had a maximum weight of 320 kg. The maximum warhead size is double that of the Karen family, at 250 kg., and the Kh-38 has a published launch range of 40 km. (25 mi.). Mid-body and rear fins fold for internal and external carriage.
It remains to be seen whether the Kh-38 family will also include a variant fitted with a broadband passive anti-radiation seeker as a replacement for the AS-12 Kegler, though such a development would make sense. Tactical Missile Corp. has also been working on a smaller dedicated anti-radiation missile design, the Kh-36, though the status of that program is unclear. It is also not certain when exactly the Kh-38 will be ready to enter service, but there is renewed impetus to the program.
The Kh-59MK2 development provides Tactical Missile Corp. with at least a stop-gap autonomous stand-off weapon until other programs come to fruition. Previous land-attack variants of the Kh-59M have required a man in the loop for TV-command guidance for the terminal phase of engagement, and so have meant the launch aircraft must remain within data-link line-of-sight range.
The Kh-59MK2 appears to use a similar type of terminal guidance package to that of the Iskander (SS-26 Stone). The Central Research Institute of Automatics and Hydraulics, which developed the Iskander’s optical seeker, is also known to have worked on air-breathing missile-guidance packages.
The Kh-59MK2 terminal guidance appears to operate by comparing imagery in the terminal phase of the engagement with a pre-loaded target image based on a 3D map. Accuracy is claimed as a 5-meter (16-ft.) circular error probability.
The missile uses the same configuration as the Kh-59MK anti-ship variant of the AS-18, which is widely assumed to be in development for China. Whether Beijing is also an intended recipient of the Kh-59MK2 is not known. The range of the MK/MK2 is significantly increased over the basic Kh-59M due to a more fuel-efficient powerplant, the NPO Saturn 36MT.
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