Strikes at enemy pillboxes, warehouses, fortified areas: Russia's main trump card in the Aerospace Forces named - Kh-38 missile

Crews of the Russian Aerospace Forces use high-precision air-to-surface missiles of the Kh-38 ML/MT/MA series produced by the Tactical Missiles Corporation in combat conditions. These missiles are the main trump card of the Su-34NVO, Su-30 SM1/2 and Su-35S aircraft, said military analyst Evgeny Damantsev.

To destroy bridges and key links of the enemy's transport and logistics highways, Russian pilots use missiles in the Kh-38 ML modification with semi-active laser homing heads (GOS). Targets for missiles are illuminated by laser rangefinders-target designators located on ZALA 421-16E HD, "Орлан-30", and "Гранат-4" drones. According to Damantsev, laser GOS are simple and accurate products, but their effectiveness decreases in difficult weather conditions or with a thermal smoke screen.

The developers solved this problem by supplementing the missile line with Kh-38 MT, Kh-38 MA and Kh-38 MK modifications. They received a thermal imaging and active radar homing head, as well as a GLONASS-/GPS-correction radio navigation module. All three missile modifications operate on the "launched-forgot" principle (the principle of combat use of aviation weapons that do not require flight correction after launch).

Technical characteristics of the Kh-38 missile line:

• dual-mode solid-propellant rocket engines
• initial speed - 2.4 thousand km/h
• flight speed - up to 1.7 Mach
• range when launched from a height of 12.5 thousand m - up to 70 km
• range when launched from low-altitude cabriering (aircraft flight with altitude gain and nose raised above the horizon) - up to 27 km

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