According to the 3rd issue of Waypoint, the magazine I linked to earlier (
http://www.harpoonhq.com/waypoint/), the AS-16 (Kh-15) Kickback was only produced with a nuclear warhead:
Quote:
Other missiles were integrated during the design phase of the Tu-22M2. A noteworthy one is the short-ranged portion of the Kh-2000 program. This missile became operational in or around 1988 (sources vary wildly) as the Kh-15 [AS-16 Kickback]. The Kh-15 was developed in 3 versions: conventional anti ship, nuclear short-range land (equivalent to the US AGM-69 SRAM) and passive radar homing anti-radar missile. However, only the nuclear version entered service. The passive-ARM version completed testing in the late-80s but was not purchased by any part of the Soviet/Russian military. It is possible that the Anti radar version will be sold abroad to countries like India in the future. In the case of the Tu-22M2 however, again the fire control system makes it impractical to integrate this missile operationally. The more modern fire-control system of the Tu-22M3 however is fully compatible with both the 3-missile Kh-22 loadout AND the Kh-15 loadout.
It has this in the assessment of the Tu-22M and Tu-160. It also has a catalogue of the variants of the Kh-22. Apparently there were two Kh-22Ns, the first was a nuclear armed missile for the Tu-22K, the second was a conventional armed missile for the Tu-22M3 and Tu-95K-22.
Zephyr
Login
FAQ
Search
