The Kh-28 was the first Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 anti-radiation missile

Anti-radiation missile

An anti-radiation missile is a missile which is designed to detect and home on an enemy radio emission source. Typically these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communication can also be targeted in this manner.- Air-to-Ground :Most ARM designs...

 for tactical aircraft. It entered production in 1973 and is still carried on some Sukhoi Su-22s in developing countries but is no longer in Russian service. Use of the Kh-28 was restricted by its weight, limited seeker head, bulk and fuelling requirements, and it was superseded by the smaller, solid-fuel Kh-58

Kh-58

The Kh-58 is a Russian anti-radiation missile with a range of 120 km. the Kh-58U variant was still the primary anti-radiation missile of Russia and her allies. It is being superseded by the Kh-31.-Development:...

 (AS-11 'Kilter') in the early 1980s.

Development

Soviet offensive doctrine in the early 1960s assumed that widespread use of nuclear weapons would disable Western radar-based air defence systems through electromagnetic pulse

Electromagnetic pulse

An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...

s (EMP) effects. Consequently they paid little attention to the development of anti-radar missiles. However in January 1963 the Berezniak design bureau (which became MKB Raduga

MKB Raduga

MKB Raduga is a Russian aerospace company, concerned with the production of various missile systems and related technologies. It is headquartered in Dubna in the Moscow Oblast...

 in 1967) was tasked with developing such a missile as part of the K-28P weapon complex based around a 'Wild Weasel

Wild Weasel

A Wild Weasel is an aircraft specially equipped with radar seeking missiles, and tasked with destroying the radars and SAM installations of enemy air defence systems....

' version of the Yak-28 'Brewer' bomber (hence -28; the 'K' stands for kompleks, P stands for protivradiolokatsyonny 'anti-radar').

The main difficulty came in the design of the APR-28 guidance system undertaken by CKB-111 (later NPO Avtomatika). This meant that the Kh-28 missile was not ready until the 1970s. Flight trials were carried out on a Yak-28N, but by then the Yak-28 had ceased production and was perceived as obsolete, and the K-28P system was cancelled. Instead the Kh-28 was adapted for use by standard attack aircraft, in particular the Su-24 'Fencer-A' and Su-17M 'Fitter-C'.

Design

The design of the Kh-28 was similar to - but smaller than - Raduga's Kh-22 (AS-4 'Kitchen') and KSR-5 (AS-6 'Kingfish') anti-shipping missiles. The Su-24 could carry one under each wing, and used the on-board Filin ('Eagle Owl') targeting system. The Su-17M could only carry one Kh-28 on the centreline, and used the Myetyel/Metel ('Blizzard') system in a pod under the right wing, later replaced by the Vyuga ('Snowstorm') pod.

The APR-28 seeker on the original Kh-58 could only target the MIM-14 Nike-Hercules and English Electric Thunderbird

English Electric Thunderbird

The English Electric Thunderbird was a British surface to air missile produced for the British Army. The Thunderbird was primarily intended to attack higher altitude targets at ranges of up to thirty miles or so. AA guns were still used for lower altitude threats...

 SAM systems, although the Filin could recognise other frequencies. The Kh-58M had an updated X band seeker that could recognise the MIM-23 Hawk

MIM-23 Hawk

The Raytheon MIM-23 Hawk is a U.S. medium range surface-to-air missile. The Hawk was initially designed to destroy aircraft and was later adapted to destroy other missiles in flight. The missile entered service in 1960, and a program of extensive upgrades has kept it from becoming obsolete. It was...

's AN/MPQ-33 and subsequent AN/MPQ-39 target-illumination radars, and the AN/MPQ-34 low-level target-acquisition radar. Other seekers may have been produced.

The propulsion system consists of a fuel tank and a separate tank for the IRFNA oxidiser. One problem was that the missile required fuelling just before flight, and not many airfields had the appropriate facilities. Range is given variously as 80–95 km or 120 km.

Operational history

The Kh-28 entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1973, and has been widely exported. It was cleared for use on the Su-17M/Su-20/Su-22M, Su-24M, Tupolev Tu-16, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25BM, MiG-27 and Tupolev Tu-22M aircraft. It was also trialled on an Antonov An-12

Antonov An-12

The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...

BL SEAD

SEAD

Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses , also known as "Wild Weasel" and "Iron Hand" operations in the United States, are military actions to suppress enemy surface-based air defenses , primarily in the first hours of an attack.One fourth of American combat sorties in recent conflicts have been SEAD...

 variant of the transport that could carry four of the missiles.

A missile believed to be a Kh-28 was captured in Iraq by US forces during the first Gulf War in April 1991. One man was burnt by RFNA (Red fuming nitric acid

Red fuming nitric acid

Red fuming nitric acid is a storable oxidizer used as a rocket propellant. It consists mainly of nitric acid , also containing 13% dinitrogen tetroxide and 3% water. The dissolved nitrogen dioxide is very concentrated and can be found at room temperature...

) from the oxidiser tank while he was making it safe.

Variants

• Kh-28 (Izdeliye 93, D-8) - original version targeting Nike-Hercules and Thunderbird SAMs
• Kh-28M - improved version capable against Hawk and possibly other radars
• Kh-28E - export version
• Nisan-28 or Nissan-28 - Iraqi version of Kh-28E displayed in Baghdad in 1989 that was reported to have three seeker heads for different frequency bands.

Similar weapons

• AGM-78 Standard ARM
  AGM-78 Standard ARM
  The AGM-78 Standard ARM was an anti-radiation missile developed by General Dynamics, United States of America.-Overview:Originally developed for the US Navy during the late 1960s, the AGM-78 was created in large part because of the limitations of the AGM-45 Shrike, which suffered from a small...
  
   - US anti-radar missile with similar range but only Mach 2.0
• Martel missile AS37 - Anglo-French first-generation anti-radar missile, subsonic with 60 km range