According to British intelligence, the new modification of the missiles “probably halved their range”.
British military intelligence reports that the Russian Aerospace Forces have begun fitting a second warhead to the main Kh-101 missiles (AS-23 KODIAK in NATO classification) that are launched from the air.
According to intelligence reports, Russian long-range air-to-air missile commanders tried to modify their systems for three reasons during the conflict:
- To increase their survivability because Ukrainian air defense was intercepting too many missiles
- To increase their effectiveness, and
- To gain the ability to use older missiles, as the means to defeat more modern designs had been used at the start of the conflict.
According to British intelligence, the new missile modification “probably cut their range in half.” However, Russia’s long-range aviation does not need to use the full range of its missiles to hit targets across Ukraine, the intelligence service points out.
He continues that “the second warhead is designed for increased target fragmentation,” which would make it more effective for strikes against unfortified targets.
Source :Skai
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