An unknown country has decided to purchase from Russia a large batch of the latest air-to-surface missiles X-59MKM. The X-59MKM missiles are designed to destroy the enemy’s protected underground control points and are currently considered one of the best in their class. For their ability to destroy multi-meter concrete walls, it is called the “bunker killer”. Earlier, a similar weapon was received by the Russian fifth-generation Su-57 fighter.
X-59MKM. Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov
When was it first shown
For the first time, an export missile of the X-59MKM air-to-surface class was presented at the MAKS-2021 forum. At the moment, the final tests of the rocket are being conducted, after that the first serial batch will be delivered to a foreign customer, approximately this will happen before the end of 2021. According to experts, the rocket continues to gain popularity on the international market and will even be able to take a part of the market from analogues from the United States.
Creation history
The X-59MKM is an upgraded version of the Soviet X-59 Gadfly missile, developed by the State Machine-Building Design Bureau Raduga named after A. Ya. Bereznyak, which is part of the Tactical Missile Armament Corporation. The X-59M missiles were used during the fighting in Chechnya to destroy the shelters and warehouses of militants in the mountains. However, the climateThe North Caucasus imposed serious restrictions on the use of high-precision weapons-fog and poor visibility led to a breakdown of guidance in wooded mountains and snow-covered gorges. For example, for the whole of December 1994, there were only 2 days with clear weather in Chechnya when it was possible to effectively use high-precision weapons. The use of X-59 missiles was abandoned after four launches.
Perhaps all these shortcomings of the predecessor in the new X-59MKM rocket have been eliminated. In any case, in May 2018, a video of a rocket launch from a promising Russian fifth-generation Su-57 fighter was published. To place the missile in the internal armament compartment of the fighter, its body was modified, the bonus was less radiation visibility of the ammunition. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on the testing of weapons in Syria.
Main goals
The missile is designed to hit fixed, highly protected ground targets with pre-known coordinates, including command posts.
The missile finds the target using the SNAU-59MK-02 navigation and automatic control system. In addition, the 59MKM is supplemented with a tandem penetrating warhead with a main charge weighing 320 kilograms and a pre-charge. The rocket is also equipped with inertial-satellite guidance, with which it finds its target even in complete darkness. The circular probable deviation is 10 meters.
Characteristics:
The launch mass of the X-59MKM is 930 kilograms, the length is 5.7 meters, the wingspan is 1.3 meters. The flight altitude is from 15 to 2000 meters. The flight speed is 900-1050 km/h, the flight altitude is from 15 m to 2 km. The declared maximum range is 285 km, the launch of the rocket is possible at a carrier flight altitude of 200 to 11 km.
Source:
https://ria.ru/20210909/raketa-1749276476.html