The Raduga K-10S (

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

: AS-2

Kipper A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood chips (typically oak). In the United Ki ...

) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...

that was usually nuclear-armed, designed by

MKB Raduga MKB Raduga (russian: МКБ Радуга, meaning Raduga Design Bureau (russian: машиностроительное конструкторское бюро «Радуга»), where ''raduga'' literally means "rainbow") is a Russian aerospac ...

. Its development began in 1955, and it entered service with the Soviet armed forces in 1961. The Kipper missile was a very large one, approximately the size of a small jet fighter, because of the rather primitive state of anti-ship missile technology in the 1950s and 1960s. This missile was never used in combat anywhere. The typical AS-2 launch platform, the

Tupolev Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ), officially Joint Stock Company Tupolev, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. Tupolev is successor to the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau (OKB-156, design off ...

Tu-16K-10 ''Badger C'', could carry a single AS-2, semi-recessed in the bomb bay. The Kipper's long range enabled it to be launched, hypothetically, from beyond the range of any shipboard

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s or anti-aircraft guns of that time. The only defense against the Kipper was the naval jet

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

, operating from either an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

or a shore

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

. In flight tests, the Kipper cruised on its approach to a target at an altitude of about 10,000 meters, using

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...

until it reaches a range of about 100 to 110 kilometers from the target, where it enters a shallow 15 degree dive, commanded by a

mid-course update Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its ...

via radio link. When it reaches a range of 60 to 70 kilometers it levels out at an altitude of between 800 and 1,000 meters where it cruises until it reaches a range of 10 to 16 kilometers, when the missile's

active radar homing Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target aut ...

guidance is engaged. It then enters a dive, striking the target vessel close to or below the waterline.

Variants

* K-10S * P-40 naval - SSM GLCM variant

Specifications

* Length: 9.75 m * Wing span: 4.18 m * Diameter: 1 m * Launch weight: 4,533 kg * Warhead weight: 1000kg

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...

or 350 kt nuclear * Range: 110 km to 325 km * Launch altitude: 1,500 to 11,000 m * Cruise speed: * Engine:

Alexander Mikulin Alexander Alexandrovich Mikulin (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Мику́лин) (February 14 ( O.S. February 2), 1895, Vladimir – May 13, 1985, Moscow) was a Soviet Russian aircraft engine designer and chief design ...

M-9FK

References

* {{Russian and Soviet Aircraft Ordnance Cold War anti-ship missiles of the Soviet Union Nuclear air-to-surface missiles Nuclear cruise missiles of the Soviet Union K-010S K-010S MKB Raduga products Military equipment introduced in the 1960s