Raduga Kh-22

Raduga Kh-22
Name	Kh-22 (NATO: AS-4 'Kitchen')
Origin	Soviet Union
Type	long-range anti-ship cruise missile / standoff weapon
Manufacturer	Raduga Design Bureau / MKB Raduga
Introduced	1960s
Length	unknown
Diameter	unknown
Warhead	conventional or nuclear
Propulsion	ramjet / rocket booster
Range	up to 600–650 km (varies by source)
Speed	high-subsonic to supersonic (up to Mach 4 reported)
Launch platforms	Tupolev Tu-22M, Tupolev Tu-95

Raduga Kh-22 is a Soviet-era long-range air-launched anti-ship cruise missile developed during the Cold War for use against carrier battle groups and strategic maritime targets. Designed by the Raduga Design Bureau and fielded on strategic bomber platforms such as the Tupolev Tu-22M and Tu-95, the weapon combined high speed, heavy warheads, and long reach to threaten United States Navy carrier strike groups, Royal Navy task forces, and NATO maritime forces during crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis aftermath and later Cold War naval standoffs. The Kh-22 attracted attention from planners in the Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and NATO commands because of its potential to carry nuclear or large conventional warheads against high-value targets.

Development and Design

Development began in the late 1950s at the Raduga Design Bureau under Soviet aerospace programs that included projects linked to the Soviet Air Force, Mikoyan-Gurevich, and strategic aviation modernization efforts. The Kh-22 program intersected with initiatives overseen by the Ministry of Aviation Industry (USSR) and the OKB-155 trend toward high-speed standoff weapons. Designers emphasized a high speed ramjet-powered cruise stage with a rocket booster derived from technologies used in missiles like the P-15 Termit and influenced by research from the Tupolev design school. Airframe and seeker solutions drew on work associated with the Moskva-era antiship doctrine and test campaigns involving Novosibirsk facilities and the Kola Peninsula ranges. The missile’s guidance suite development involved institutes that collaborated with Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics researchers and air-launched weapon testing at Zhukovsky Airfield and Cape Kanin Nos ranges. Strategic intent mirrored doctrines articulated by Marshal Andrei Grechko and naval concepts developed at the Northern Fleet and Pacific Fleet staffs.

Technical Specifications

The Kh-22 combined a solid-fuel rocket booster for launch acceleration with a ramjet/cruise sustainer allowing sustained high-Mach flight, building on propulsion research paralleling work at the Keldysh Research Center and the Central Institute of Aviation Motors. Typical reported range neared 600 km, with peak speeds reported between Mach 2 and Mach 4 depending on the variant and flight profile—numbers cited by analysts at the Royal United Services Institute and the RAND Corporation. Warhead options included a 900–1,000 kg conventional high-explosive charge or a thermonuclear option consistent with Soviet nuclear doctrine of the period; wartime targeting doctrine referenced interactions with Strategic Rocket Forces and carrier battle group engagement concepts from Admiral Sergei Gorshkov. Guidance used inertial navigation updated by active radar homing in terminal phase, drawing on radar seeker advances from the Scientific Research Institute of Radio Technologies and test comparisons disseminated to analysts at the NATO Allied Command Operations.

Operational History

Service entry in the 1960s placed the Kh-22 on long-range strategic strike aircraft including the Tu-22M Backfire and chances to operate from Tu-95 Bear platforms in some configurations. Deployments featured in Soviet naval planning during the Yom Kippur War era and later Cold War crises where Soviet long-range aviation staged patrols near the Mediterranean Sea, Barents Sea, and East China Sea. Western navies adjusted carrier operations and embarked aircraft cycles in response to Kh-22 deployments, informing tactical studies at the United States Pacific Fleet, United States Atlantic Fleet, and British Fleet Air Arm. Soviet operational testing occurred in ranges cooperating with the Northern Fleet and Pacific Fleet test squadrons; data from these tests fed into doctrine papers at the General Staff Academy (USSR).

Variants and Upgrades

Variants included improved seekers, extended-range airframes, and electronic counter-countermeasure suites developed over decades by enterprises linked to the Sukhoi and MiG research communities. Upgrades during the 1970s and 1980s paralleled modernization programs in the Soviet Navy and Long-Range Aviation that also produced missiles like the Kh-15; retrofit initiatives were handled by MKB Raduga and associated factories in Dubna and Zhukovsky. Some variants adapted for land-attack profiles or equipped with different terminal guidance modes resonated with research at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Precision Machine Engineering and export-monitoring units under the Ministry of Foreign Trade (USSR).

Operators and Deployment

Primary operator was the Soviet Air Force and later the Russian Aerospace Forces for strategic aviation units equipped with Tu-22M bombers. Export or transfer discussions appeared in diplomatic channels involving the People's Republic of China and other Warsaw Pact states, monitored by the United States Department of State and NATO intelligence centers like SHAPE and US European Command. Deployment patterns were focused around home bases such as airfields in Arctic Russia, deployments to bases servicing the Mediterranean Sea and occasional forward operating locations associated with Syria-era support missions.

Combat Use and Incidents

Recorded combat launches are scarce in open-source Western literature, though the missile’s presence influenced naval deployments during Cold War crises and regional tensions including episodes that concerned United States Navy carrier task groups and NATO convoys. Incidents included technical malfunctions and training mishaps cataloged in Soviet accident reports at institutions like the Air Force Academy (Mozhaysky), and declassified Western intelligence assessments by the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency analyzed accidental-release scenarios and peacetime mishaps.

Survivability and Countermeasures

Countermeasures developed by NATO and Western navies included integrated air defense systems aboard ships such as the Aegis Combat System, close-in weapon systems like the Phalanx CIWS, electronic warfare suites from programs at Raytheon and BAE Systems, and coordinated fighter interception doctrines from units like the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) air wings and Royal Air Force maritime patrol coordination. Soviet attempts to improve missile survivability led to hardened guidance, ECCM suites, and tactics integrating decoys and saturation attack profiles discussed in analyses by the Naval War College and Jane's Defence Weekly.

Category:Air-to-surface missiles Category:Cold War weapons Category:Soviet weapons