KSR-5

• Name — KSR-5 • Type — Air-to-surface missile • Origin — Soviet Union • Is Ranged — yes • Is Missile — yes • Service — 1969−1994 • Used By — See operators • Designer — Tupolev and Mikoyan Missile Design Bureau • Number — 300 • Variants — See variants • Mass — 4500 kg • Length — 10.56 m • Diameter — 920 mm • Max Range — 400 km • Filling — High-explosive, HE semi-armour-piercing, nuclear • Filling Weight — 930-1000 kg • Yield — 350 kT (Nuclear) • Speed — Mach 2 or Mach 3 • Guidance — Inertial with active or passive radar • Wingspan — 2.5 m • Propellant — Solid • Launch Platform — Tu-16, Tu-22M, Tu-95M • Illustration — Tu-16K with a missile under each wing • Illustration — Tu-16 'Badger-G' with KSR-5 under port wing

In the early 1960s the development of new nuclear-capable strategic bombers came into a virtual halt in the Soviet Union, with the focus being shifted on nuclear ballistic missiles and developing cruise missiles for existing aircraft. Developments in jet fighters and surface-to-air missiles during the 1950s made the use of nuclear free-fall bombs impractical against densely protected targets while missiles gave bombers the possibility of striking targets beyond the range of enemy anti-aircraft weapons.

• Kh-26 − Nuclear variant with inertial guidance. Armed with a 350 kiloton warhead weighing about 1000 kg. • Kh-26N − Active radar homing anti-ship variant, it could carry either a nuclear warhead or a conventional 930 kg HE SAP warhead. The seeker had a lock-on range of 25-30 km. • Kh-26MP − Anti-radiation variant with a passive radar seeker and a HE blast/fragmentation warhead for use against land-based or ship-mounted radars. • KSR-5NM and KSR-5MV − Russian air-launched target variants designed by MKB Raduga. They were offered for export in 1993.

The KSR-5 entered service in 1969, with later versions designed to be carried in the Tu-95 and Tu-95M being introduced in 1973 and 1976 respectively. In June 1991, it was estimated that the Soviet Union had 300 missiles carried on Badger-G bombers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the remaining missiles were used by Russia and possibly Ukraine until 1994. With the retirement of the Tu-16, the nuclear versions of the KSR-2 and KSR-5 missiles were retired by 1993. In 1991, it was estimated Russia had about 100 missiles in its inventory, but most were converted into supersonic targets.

• − Most were converted for missile target practice • − Passed on to successor states *