Putin has already done a simulation of a nuclear attack in Ukraine. How far did the rocket go?
Fighter jets of the Ukrainian Air Force shot down the Russian Kh-55SM cruise missile, Telegram channel @war_home reported, according to Militarnyi.
The Kh-55SM was shot down by an R-27 air-to-air missile in the Rivne region, 200 kilometers from the border with Poland and the European Union. The range of the Kh-55 missile is 3,500 kilometers.
Putin has already done a simulation of a nuclear attack in Ukraine. How far did the rocket go?
What makes the incident special is the finding that the Russian cruise missile was equipped with a nuclear warhead simulator.
The Kh-55 is a strategic nuclear subsonic cruise missile launched and produced since the late 1970s to arm strategic bombers.
It became the first all-digital cruise missile manufactured in the USSR. The Raduga Design Bureau proposed the missile in 1971, but the idea of its creation was not approved until 1976.
The assembly of the first missiles took place in 1978. Since the Raduga facilities were overloaded, production was gradually moved to Kharkiv, and later it was moved to the Russian city of Kirov.
The missiles were intended for the Tu-95 turboprop strategic bomber, upgraded to the Tu-95MS version, and the Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber.
The design of the rocket is built according to a classic aerodynamic configuration. The fuselage is made of AMG-6 aluminum alloy.
A fuel tank holds most of the internal volume. The missile is powered by a Ukrainian-made (Motor Sich) R95-300 two-circuit turbojet engine.
The motor is located in the tail of the rocket on a special shaft that extends down from the body before launch.
The Kh-55 is equipped with a self-correcting inertial guidance system and a terrain matching system.
The flight program is built into the rocket before launch and contains elements of a digital map of the terrain along the flight path.
During flight, the BSU-55 control system on board compares the control points on this map with the actual altimeter indicators and, if necessary, issues appropriate commands to adjust the course.
Due to the duration of the flight, the rocket’s power source is provided by the RDK-300 generator. The maximum range, depending on the missile variant, is from 2000 to 3500 kilometers.
It should be noted that in 1999, Ukraine transferred 575 Kh-55 and Kh-55SM missiles to Russia as payment for the supply of natural gas.
If the West sends troops to Ukraine, Putin will resort to a nuclear attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s friend Viktor Medvedchuk recently “predicted” that a nuclear attack would “most likely” occur, according to Newsweek.
Putin and senior Russian officials have repeatedly threatened nuclear escalation against Kiev and its Western partners since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Read also: Putin’s warning to the West: “Russia is ready for a nuclear war”
During Putin’s annual address last month, he warned that Russia’s “strategic nuclear forces are at full readiness.”
He also warned that there was a real risk of nuclear war if Western nations sent troops to Ukraine, as French President Emmanuel Macron suggested last month.
Read also: A Russian nuclear attack in Ukraine is not excluded. America is ready
According to the Russian news agency Tass, pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Medvedchiuk, who was sent to Russia in 2022 in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war, predicted that a nuclear strike would “most likely” take place as the West continues to “asserts its right to global dominance.”
In this context, the use of a nuclear warhead simulator on a missile aimed at Ukraine can be both a “flight test” and a message that the Putin regime’s threats are not just words.
