Russia to possibly relaunch Kh-50 cruise missile project from June.

According to a tweet posted by Oriannalyla on April 13, Russia plans to start production of Kh-50 cruise missiles from June, Ukrainian Deputy Chief of the General Staff stated. Hence this may indicate the possibility of increased missile strikes against Ukraine this fall.

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Russian cruise missile codenamed "Izdeliye 720", which could be a variant of the X-50 missile for mass production, displayed in February 2023 (Picture source: via defence-ua.com)

As reported by Takshi Tiwari in EurasianTimes, the Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on national television earlier this week that Russia wants to produce “long-range cruise missiles” and will use “anything at their disposal” to attack Ukraine. This has essentially brought back into focus Russia’s long-standing Kh-50 missile project.

Ihnat informed the media that Russia was looking to revive old projects, like plans to produce X-50 (Kh-50) missiles, besides increasing the production of UAVs for surveillance missions and conducting attacks, Takshi Tiwari reports. “Previously, the X-50 project was impractical for Russia because they had a better missile: the X-101,” Ihnat said, adding that “They urgently need to replenish the supply of long-range high-precision weapons, and the X-50 is a missile like the X-101 or the Kalibr that can fly far and reach any point in Ukraine”. Russia has extensively used the Kh-55 and the Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) to strike Ukrainian targets.

Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksii Hromov, said Russia intends to mass-produce Kh-50 cruise missiles by fall this year: “It should be noted that, according to available data, in June this year, the Russian Federation plans to start mass production of strategic air-launched cruise missiles of the Kh-50 type, which will allow the Kremlin to intensify missile strikes on the territory of our country in the fall.”

According to Ukrainian media Defence Express, the Kh-50 can be called a “simplified version” of the Kh-101 missiles, which, in theory, can be produced in larger volumes with less serious resource consumption. “However, there is no reliable data that would allow us to say for sure how many missiles of the X-50 type the Russians will be able to produce in a month,” Defense Express adds.

The Kh-101 is a Russian air-launched cruise missile designed for strategic bombers, with a 400 kg warhead, and a range of 2,000-5,500 km.

Russian cruise missile Kh-50 project (Picture source: Twitter account of Oriannalyla)