Debris from a Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) which was launched at a target inside Ukraine have been found in the Volgograd region of Russia.
The remains of the missile which malfunctioned and crashed shortly after launch over the Caspian Sea were photographed and posted on the Russian Telegram channel “Military Informant”.
The Kh-101/-102 missile is designed to operate stealthily and defeat air defence systems by flying at low altitudes close to the terrain to avoid detection by radar. The Kh-101 missile is armed with a conventional warhead, while the Kh-102 missile is believed to carry a nuclear payload with a destructive power of 250 kilotons. The missile can be launched from Tu-160 Blackjack, Tu-22M3/5 Backfire C, Tu-95MS16 Bear-H, and Su-27IB aircraft.
The incident comes just two days after debris from a Russian Kalibr cruise missile was discovered in a field between the villages of Pavlovskaya and Atamanskaya in the Krasnodar region of Russia after being launched from the Caspian Sea. Locals reported that bomb disposal teams sealed off the area while they worked to make safe and recover the wreckage.
Due to the increased intensity of missile attacks on targets in Ukraine, the occurrence of failures among missiles has proportionally increased.
These recent incidents are part of a pattern of technical malfunctions that have been affecting Russian precision weaponry. This raises questions about potential production defects or substandard components. The growing number of technical faults and the missiles landing on Russian territory highlight possible issues in the manufacturing process or the quality of components.
