What is known about the Kh-22 missile that hit the Dnipro

On January 14, five long-range Tu-22m3 bombers of the Russian Air Force fired five X-22 cruise missiles from the Kursk region and the Sea of Azov into the territory of Ukraine. One of them hit a high-rise building in Dnipro.

The Air Force said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have no firepower capable of shooting down this type of missiles, of which more than 210 have been fired at Ukrainian territory since Russia began its military aggression.

"Not a single one has been shot down by air defense means. The mass of the warhead of the X-22 is about 950 kg. The maximum range is up to 600 km. When used from long distances, the deviation from the target can be hundreds of meters. Only antiaircraft missile systems, which in the future can be provided to Ukraine by Western partners (we mean such systems as Patriot PAC-3 or SAMP-T), are capable of intercepting such air targets," the AFU said.

At the same time, Armed Forces spokesman Yuri Ignat said that reports about shot down X-22 missiles in the official pages, which happened in the past, were erroneous.

"I will explain so that it is clear. There have been several such publications. Let's say the fighters found X-22 wreckage in the field (and sometimes not even X-22, but wreckage of another missile), they report upstairs: we shot down X-22! Everyone wants to be the first to report it on their resources. Without checking, without coordinating, and so on. The main thing is to be the first," he said in his comment on the post of the command of the Armed Forces in Facebook.

At the same time, military expert Alexander Kovalenko is somewhat skeptical about the power of X-22 missiles and calls them old Soviet shells:

"Already we can talk about the standard variety of the nomenclature of missiles used on December 29. I am sure today the list of destroyed missiles will include Kh-101, Kalibr, and even old Soviet Kh-22s that underwent repair and restoration work. This confirms the limitations of the PSBM," he said.

According to the expert, there is no production on Kh-22 missile and it can not be restarted.

Kovalenko added that these missiles are currently withdrawn from storage and the ones that are left are not suitable for use. However, they are undergoing lengthy restoration and repair work, after which they are already being used for strikes against Ukraine.

The missile has a special nuclear warhead. The cost of the Kh-22 is quite inexpensive, as for a cruise missile - up to 500 thousand dollars.

- The accuracy of X-22 is several kilometers;

- velocity of X-22 missile - 3.5 Mach;

- Flying altitude up to 13 km;

- Launch mass up to 6000 kg;

- Fires at up to 300 km distance;

- used at an altitude of 10 km.

The X-22 was first launched exactly 60 years ago. A large number of technical errors were discovered during tests.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 16/01/2023