The Raduga Kh-15 or RKV-15 (russian: Х-15;

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

: AS-16 "Kickback"; GRAU:) is a Russian hypersonic aero-ballistic

air-to-ground Air-to-ground weaponry is aircraft ordnance used by combat aircraft to attack ground targets. The weapons include bombs, machine guns, autocannons, air-to-surface missiles, rockets, air-launched cruise missiles and grenade launchers. See also ...

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocke ...

carried by the

Tupolev Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. According to some ...

and other

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

s. Originally developed as a standoff nuclear

air-to-ground missile An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common p ...

similar to the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

AGM-69 SRAM The Boeing AGM-69 SRAM (Short-Range Attack Missile) was a nuclear air-to-surface missile. It had a range of up to , and was intended to allow US Air Force strategic bombers to penetrate Soviet airspace by neutralizing surface-to-air missile de ...

, versions with conventional warheads have been developed. As of early 2019, it was uncertain whether the Kh-15 was in service, with rumors that it had been retired or placed in storage.

Development

In 1967, MKB Raduga started developing the Kh-2000 as a replacement for the

Kh-22 The Kh-22 (russian: Х-22; AS-4 'Kitchen') is a large, long-range anti-ship missile developed by MKB Raduga in the Soviet Union. It was designed for use against aircraft carriers and carrier battle groups, with either a conventional or nuclear wa ...

( NATO reporting name AS-4 Kitchen) heavy anti-shipping missile. Development of the Kh-15 started some time in the early 1970s. The sophistication of the design made it suitable for other roles, and a nuclear-tipped version was developed in tandem with the conventionally armed variant. An upgrade under development was cancelled in 1991, but reports in 1998 suggested an upgraded Kh-15 might be fitted to Su-35 (Flanker-E) tactical aircraft.

Design

The Kh-15 climbs to an altitude of about and then dives in on the target, accelerating to a speed of about Mach 5.

Operational history

It entered service in 1980. It can be carried by the Su-33,

Su-34 The Sukhoi Su-34 (russian: Сухой Су-34; NATO reporting name: Fullback) is a Soviet-origin Russian twin-engine, twin-seat, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber/ strike aircraft. It first flew in 1990, intended for the Sovi ...

, Tu-95MS-6 'Bear-H', Tu-22M3 'Backfire C', and Tu-160 'Blackjack'.

Variants

* Kh-15 (RKV-15) - the original version with nuclear warhead and inertial guidance * Kh-15P - passive seeker for

anti-radar An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ...

use * Kh-15S - active radar seeker for anti-shipping use

Operators

Current

Former

*- Passed onto successor states

Similar weapons

KSR-5 The Raduga KSR-5 (NATO reporting name AS-6 Kingfish) was a long-range, air-launched cruise missile and anti ship missile developed by the Soviet Union. It was essentially a scaled down version of the Kh-22 'Kitchen', built to be carried by ...

(AS-6 'Kingfish') - heavy anti-surface missile carried under the wings of Tu-22M *

Kh-59 The Kh-59 ''Ovod'' (russian: Х-59 Овод ' Gadfly'; AS-13 'Kingbolt') is a Russian TV-guided cruise missile with a two-stage solid-fuel propulsion system and 200 km range. The Kh-59M ''Ovod-M'' (AS-18 'Kazoo') is a variant with a bigger war ...

(AS-13 'Kingbolt') - ASM for tactical aircraft, up to 285 km range *

Kh-37 The Zvezda Kh-35 (russian: Х-35 , AS-20 'Kayak') is a Soviet turbojet subsonic cruise anti-ship missile. The missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defence batteries with the help of a rocket booster, in which c ...

(updated version of AS-20 'Kayak') - land attack version of subsonic Kh-35 Anti-Ship missile, 250 km range *

- 1000 kg US missile with up to 170 km range

Photo Gallery

Image:AS-16 Kickback 2008 G2.jpg, Kh-15 from rear Image:X-15c.gif, Mission profile

Notes

References

* * {{Russian and Soviet missiles, ASM Kh-015 Kh-015 Cold War air-to-surface missiles of the Soviet Union Cold War anti-ship missiles of the Soviet Union Air-launched ballistic missiles Kh-015 Kh-015 Kh-015 MKB Raduga products Nuclear air-to-surface missiles Military equipment introduced in the 1980s