(Dan Tri) – Ukraine said that Russia seems to be planning to add cluster warheads to the Kh-32 missile, an upgraded version of the Kh-22.
Russia’s Tu-22M3 carries Kh-32 missiles (Photo: Defense Express).
The National Resistance Center of Ukraine (NRC) announced that it has obtained evidence that Russian forces plan to equip Kh-32 cruise missiles with cluster munitions.
NRC posted a text that they claimed was from a document of the Raduga Design Bureau (Dubna, Moscow) – a famous Russian cruise missile manufacturer – obtained by Kiev from private sources.
Documents reveal that in October 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense assigned engineers the task of improving the Kh-32 cruise missile with a cluster munition carrying variant.
The text mentions the phrase `product 132`, referring to the Kh-32 missile.
Defense Express commented that the Russian military industry may be researching a unified warhead that can be equipped on both the Kh-32 and Kh-22.
This is understandable because even though it has been around for decades, the Kh-22 is still considered a formidable missile.
Even with advanced air defense systems provided by the West, Ukraine has still not found a way to successfully neutralize the threat of the Kh-22/Kh-32 series.
Therefore, Russia continues to improve this missile because it still plans to increase its attack capabilities, especially when it can effectively overcome Ukraine’s air defense.
Kh-32 is basically a modernized version of Kh-22.
Russia said that compared to the Kh-22, the Kh-32 has a reduced warhead weight, allowing it to increase its firing range to 1,000km.
Kh-32 uses a radar guidance system.
Documents posted by the NRC say Russia will likely produce 14 test warhead models for the Kh-32 and Kh-22.
Russia has not commented on the information provided by Ukraine.
