Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
July 7, 2008
IWG Report 2007
Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
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AS-5
| Country: | Russian Federation |
|---|---|
| Alternate Name: | Kelt, Kh-11, KSR-2 |
| Class: | ALCM |
| Target: | Ship |
| Length: | 8.59 m |
| Diameter: | 0.90 m |
| Launch Weight: | 3000.00 kg |
| Payload: | 100 kg HE; 1 MT nuclear |
| Propulsion: | Liquid |
| Range: | 180.00 km |
| Guidance: | INS, active radar |
| Status: | Obsolete, Unknown |
| In Service: | 1966-1990 |
Details
The AS-5 “Kelt” (KSR-2/Kh-11) is a short-range, air-launched, liquid-propellant, single warhead, air-to-surface cruise missile developed and manufactured by the Soviet Union. It was intended to be the anti-ship successor to the AS-2 “Kipper” and SS-N-2 “Styx” missiles. Development began in the early 1960s.
The AS-5 appeared similar to a small aircraft, with wings at mid-body and tailplanes and fin at the rear. The missile was 8.59 m in length, had a body diameter of 0.9 m, and had a launch weight of 3,000 kg. It is guided by an inertial navigation system (INS) in the midcourse phase, and by an active radar seeker in the terminal phase. The missile had a maximum range of 180 km, and a maximum supersonic flight speed of Mach 1.2. It carried a 1,000 kg warhead, either conventional high explosive or nuclear.
A noteworthy fact about the AS-5 is that it featured two distinct attack modes. The first allowed it to approach its ship targets on a sea-skimming trajectory, in which the missile travels at a low-level of about 10 m above sea level. A warship under attack can only detect a sea-skimming missile when it emerges over the horizon at a distance of 15 to 25 nautical miles (28 to 46 km), which translates to only 25 to 60 seconds of warning time. The second attack mode allowed the AS-5 to approach from a high altitude trajectory with a steep dive in the terminal phase. There have also been reports that an anti-radar version was developed, which used a passive radar seeker similar to that developed for the AS-4 “Kitchen” and the AS-6 “Kingfish” cruise missiles.
The AS-5 is believed to have entered service in 1966 and deployed on the Tu-16 “Badger” bomber. The missile was exported to Egypt, where it was successfully used by the Egyptian Air Force in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. There were no other known exports, and the AS-5 “Kelt” is believed to have been withdrawn from service in the Soviet Union by 1990.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 42 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, July 2005), p. 632; GlobalSecurity.org, “KSR-2 / KS-11 / KSR-II / AS-5 KELT,” available at http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/as-5.htm, accessed on August 1, 2006.
