Russia will supply the first production batch of the latest Kh-59MKM air to ground concrete-piercing missiles to the first foreign customer by the end of the year. The missile is designed to destroy protected underground command posts, a military-diplomatic source told RIA Novosti.
“The first serial batch of the newest air-to-surface missiles Kh-59MKM will be delivered to a foreign customer by the end of this year. Final tests are underway. The missiles have unique characteristics in terms of their ability to penetrate the protection of various military structures,” the source said.
The source said that the missile is used to destroy protected fixed targets with previously known coordinates. It has an additional high-efficiency multi-component energy-concentrating pre-charge for penetrating concrete roofs, targets or hidden targets on the ground.
The missile has a 40 kilograms pre-charge consisting of four small shaped charges to penetrate and a 320 kg penetrating warhead to burrow.
The source said the missile is designed to destroy protected stationary objects with known coordinates. The mass of the main warhead of the missile is 320 kilograms. The Kh-59MKM is equipped with an inertial control system with satellite correction.
The launch weight of the 59MKM missile is 930 kg, the length is 5.7 m, and the wingspan is 1.3 m. The missile is equipped with a turbojet engine, the flight speed is 900-1050 km/h, and the flight altitude is from 15 m to 2000 m. The official maximum flight range is 285 km (perhaps this range is specified for an export version and is limited by the limits of the MTCR). The missile can be launched at a flight altitude of the carrier aircraft from 200 to 11000 m.