New Aviation Armament Exhibition

The State Aviation Museum named after O.K. Antonov has prepared a new exhibition of aviation armament, which is open for viewing in the training hangar of the National Aviation University. Among the presented samples, the most attention-grabbing are the winged aviation missiles, which Russian aggressors actively use in the war against Ukraine today.

The largest among them is the Kh-22, which was created in the USSR back in 1962. Initially, it was designed to strike large strategic targets with a nuclear warhead. Additionally, non-nuclear anti-ship and anti-radar variants were developed. The Tu-22 and Tu-22M long-range supersonic bombers became carriers of the Kh-22. The missile's maximum speed at an altitude of over 20 km exceeded the speed of sound four times. Its guidance system is long outdated, perhaps why the Kh-22 is not used as frequently in the war against Ukraine as more modern armaments. However, the missile's warhead weighs almost 1000 kg, leading to devastating destruction. The tragic event in Dnipro on January 14, 2023, when such a missile destroyed an entire entrance of a 9-story building, is still remembered. 46 people (including 3 children) died, and 75 were injured as a result.

The winged missile Kh-55 is considerably newer - its testing began in the USSR in 1981. Serial production was established at the Kharkiv Aviation Plant, with compact turbojet engines supplied by the Zaporizhzhia-based Motor Sich enterprise (now PJSC "Motor Sich"). Initially, the Kh-55 was considered solely as a means of delivering a thermonuclear charge, and its carriers were the Tu-96MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers. The missile has a very long range - up to 3500 km. To complicate detection by air defense radars, it can fly to the target at low altitude. Since the start of the large-scale aggression against Ukraine, the enemy has been deploying modernized missiles of this type with "conventional" warheads weighing over 400 kg. In particular, Kh-55 and the latest variant, Kh-555, struck energy facilities during the autumn of 2022 to the winter of 2023.

Visitors to the hangar will also notice the guided surface-to-air missile 5V55, which is part of the S-300 system. It is exhibited together with the transporter-launch container. Such products were mass-produced by the Zhuliany Machine-Building Plant near Kyiv.

Before the deliveries of the latest SAM systems to Ukraine by Western allies, the S-300 complexes were the most powerful air defense systems of the domestic air defense. They were used to protect cities and infrastructure. Even the enemy had to acknowledge the high effectiveness of Ukrainian S-300 crews' combat operations. They shot down various types of Russian missiles and, along with other defenders of the sky, forced the aggressors to abandon the use of manned aircraft beyond the conflict zone.

The S-300 complex was developed in the USSR in the early 1980s. In addition to its main use in air defense systems, the use of its missiles against ground targets was envisaged. This was taken advantage of by Russian aggressors, who indiscriminately shelled Ukrainian cities using the S-300V1 and S-300VM complexes. Among the particularly affected cities are Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, and Mykolaiv.

The exhibition also features various samples of aviation armament: cannons, bombs, guided and unguided missiles. Many of them are dissected, allowing viewers to see their internal structure.

In the future, it is planned to add to the exhibition fragments of downed Russian "hardware". In particular, remnants of the Kh-101 cruise missile, "Shakhedivs," and other drones are expected to be included.