Missile Kh-38

The Kh-38/Kh-38M is a family of standoff air-to-surface missiles developed to replace the Kh-25 and Kh-29 families. The basic configuration was shown publicly at the 2007 Moscow Air Show (MAKS). Early prototypes used folding wings and tail fins to permit internal carriage in weapons bays. The first test firing was conducted in 2010 from a Su-34, and production was ordered in 2015. A revised version displayed at MAKS 2017 replaced both sets of control surfaces with longer, narrower fixed surfaces, an arrangement comparable to that of the Selenia Aspide.

The missile uses a modular architecture in which the seeker and warhead sections are interchangeable, allowing a single airframe to be configured for different target sets. Four guidance variants have been identified. The Kh-38MA combines inertial navigation with active radar homing. The Kh-38MK pairs inertial guidance with satellite navigation. The Kh-38ML uses inertial guidance with semi-active laser homing, requiring target designation from the launch aircraft or an external source. The Kh-38MT uses inertial guidance with an imaging infrared seeker. Warhead options include fragmentation, cluster munitions and penetrating types, selected according to the target.

Carriage aircraft include the Su-34 and Su-57. Integration on the Ka-52K shipborne attack helicopter has been planned.

The Kh-38M airframe also serves as the basis for the Kh-36 Grom family, first seen at MAKS 2015. The Grom-E1 is a rocket-assisted variant sometimes described as a hybrid missile/glide bomb and designated AS-23 in Western reporting. The Grom-E2 is an unpowered guided glide bomb of the KAB type, designated AS-23B. Both weapons share the modular structure, warhead options and seeker arrangements of the Kh-38M, and both were intended for carriage by the full range of Russian fighter types including the MiG-35 and Su-57.

The Kh-38M is operated by Russia. It was first employed in combat during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war, and has been used during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.