Russian missile mishaps: Latest Kh‑101 crashes in Volgograd

The series of Russian mishaps continues as their missiles still fall on Russian territory. In one of the latest attacks directed towards Ukraine, a Kh-101 missile launched from a Tu-95 bomber did not reach its target and crashed within the Russian Federation.

This is another instance where a Russian missile has fallen on Russian territory. In recent months, such incidents have repeatedly occurred, with one of the most recent being the crash of an Iranian-made drone, Mohajer-6, in the Kursk Oblast.

Previously, the Russians lost, among other things, an anti-ship Kh-35 missile due to unknown malfunctions, which crashed in Krasnodar Krai, and Kh-55 and Kh-101 missiles, which fell in similar locations—in the Volgograd Oblast.

The list compromising the world's second-largest army now includes another Kh-101 missile, one of the most popular and latest weapons in the Russian Federation's arsenal. The missile, launched during a recent attack, again crashed in the Volgograd Oblast, which is at least 150 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. This area likely lies in the flight path of many Russian missiles, as the latest incident is not isolated.

The wreckage of the Kh-101, found in an unspecified location in the Volgograd Oblast, is ammunition serially produced by the Russian defence industry from 2010-2011. It is thus one of the newer constructs that the Russian Federation's army regularly uses to conduct attacks on Ukraine.

The Kh-101's greatest asset is its stealth characteristic, i.e., its design with reduced detectability. This is due to the flattened fuselage, which makes the missile difficult to identify during flight and allows it to achieve a high maximum speed of around 1,000 kilometres per hour.

The missile's mass is approximately 2,400 kilograms, of which nearly 500 kilograms are the warhead alone. Its total length is 7.3 meters. When launched from an aircraft, such a large missile can reach a distance of up to 4,500 kilometres, enabling the Russian Federation's army to attack virtually any target in Ukraine from a safe position.

A crucial addition influencing the Kh-101's usability during shelling is the Otblesk-U guidance module, whose "eye" is directed downward. During the flight, the camera captures the terrain image beneath the missile and simultaneously verifies if the image the missile sees matches the pattern recorded before launch. This allows for exact strikes with an accuracy of a few meters. In newer versions, the Kh-101 features a triple-lens Otblesk-U system – earlier generations used only one lens for observation.