Syrian war

Russian bomber shown carrying anti-shipping missile in Syria

The Russian Ministry of Defence has released a video of a Sukhoi Su-34 'Fullback' bomber carrying the new Kh-35U (NATO designation AS-20 'Kayak') anti-shipping missile on operations over Syria.

The on-board video, released on 11 February by the Arabic section of Russian state-broadcaster RT, shows the aircraft departing on a mission with at least one missile mounted on a port-side underwing hardpoint (while footage shot from the other side also shows a missile on the starboard hardpoint, it can't be verified that it is of the same aircraft).

Development of the subsonic Kh-35 was begun by the Soviet Union in March 1983, following an assessment of the operational effectiveness of the Argentine-launched AIM-39 Exocet anti-shipping missile against the UK Royal Navy off the Falkland Islands the year before. The latest Kh-35U-variant is a The Kh-35U is a 550-kg (1,213lb) subsonic anti-ship missile that has been adapted for ship-, shore-, helicopter-, and aircraft-launched applications. While the outer-mould line remains the same as the earlier models, the newer version is powered by a smaller and lighter Saturn Izdeliye 64M turbofan (allowing for more fuel, and a doubling of range to 260 km).