TechRussian missile incursion into Poland raises alarm over airspace security
Russian missile incursion into Poland raises alarm over airspace security
Shortly after 10:20 PM (on Sunday, March 24), a Russian missile entered Polish airspace and, after 39 seconds, returned to Ukrainian territory. What kind of weapon could have been over Poland? We're bringing the details closer to you.
Recently, the Russians have changed their attack tactics – reports the Unian agency, which points out that Ukraine's opponent conducts massive bombardments every one or two days. In the latest attacks, Russia regularly uses Tu-95 bombers, which also attacked Ukraine on that Sunday. Therefore, it is highly probable that one of the total 14 bombers present over Ukraine on March 24 carried the weapon that "got lost" and reached Poland. This narrows down the list of suspect weapons to a few models.
Tu-95 bombers over Ukraine
For the Sunday attack on Ukraine, Russians were reported to have used several different missiles – according to Ukrainian sources. "The enemy once again used manoeuvring missiles Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 from strategic Tu-95 bombers" – reads the statement from the Military Administration of the City of Kyiv on Telegram.
At the same time, the media do not report the appearance of Ukraine of any weapons other than the mentioned Kh-101, Kh-555, and Kh-55. A confirmation that this time the aggressor limited the arsenal used might be the fact that Ukrainians did not report the characteristic whistles of the 3M22 Zircon missiles during the flight – which, in turn, was pointed out after the missile attack on March 21.
From the currently available information, it emerges that one of the three mentioned missiles with the designation 101, 555, or 55 could have been in Polish airspace. This is also somewhat confirmed by the words of the spokesperson for the Operational Command of the Armed Forces Col. Jacek Goryszewski, who pointed out that the missile was moving at a speed of almost 500 mph. This parameter is achievable for each of the three mentioned missiles.
It is also worth noting that in the last days of December 2023, when a Russian missile violated Polish airspace, suspicions were also directed towards the Kh-101 missile. It should also be added that the Kh-101 is one of the most popular missiles used by Russia during the war in Ukraine. Its production started back in 2010-2011, making the Kh-101 one of the newer and at the same time consistently produced missiles in the Russian Federation.
Missiles carried by Tu-95
Generally speaking, each of the three missiles mentioned by Ukrainian sources is similar in design. Both the Kh-555 and the Kh-101 are modernisations of the basic Kh-55. The differences, however, result from a slightly different shape or performance of specific missiles.
The Kh-101 was designed as a difficult-to-detect (stealth) weapon – thanks to its flattened fuselage, which reaches a length of about 7.3 metres and weighs about 2.4 metric tonnes. The effective hit is ensured by a warhead, whose maximum weight can be up to about 480 kilograms, and after being launched, it reaches a distance of up to about 4500 kilometres. Moreover, in selected models that are intended for precise attacks, Russians install Otblesk-U guidance systems, which not only improve accuracy but are also difficult to jam. The maximum speed of the Kh-101 is almost 1000 km/h.
The other two missiles, which could have entered Polish airspace for a few dozen seconds, are the Kh-55 and Kh-555. The former reaches a range of about 3000 kilometres and measures about 6 metres in length, while accelerating to about 950 km/h. The Kh-555, in turn, is a modernised version of the Kh-55, where instead of a nuclear warhead, a conventional blast warhead weighing more than 300 kilograms is placed. This change necessitated the modernisation of fuel tanks and, in turn, affected the missile's range, which dropped to about 2800 kilometres.
