Russian Cruise Missiles Were Made Just Months Ago Despite Sanctions
1043 Tuesday, 06 December, 2022, 23:24 Some of the cruise missiles that Russia launched at Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure in late November were manufactured months after the West imposed sanctions intended to deprive Moscow of the components needed to make those munitions, according to a weapons research group. Experts examined remnants of Kh-101 cruise missiles found in Kyiv, the capital, after an attack on Nov. 23 that knocked out electricity and shut down water systems in large areas of the country. One of the missiles was made this summer, and another was completed after September, markings on the weapons show, according to a report released by the investigators on Monday. That Russia has continued to make advanced guided missiles like the Kh-101 suggests that it has found ways to acquire semiconductors and other matériel despite the sanctions or that it had significant stockpiles of the components before the war began, one of the researchers said. The findings are among the most recent by Conflict Armament Research, an independent group based in Britain that identifies and tracks weapons and ammunition used in wars. A small team of its researchers arrived in Kyiv just before the attack at the invitation of the Ukrainian security service. In four previous research trips to Kyiv since the invasion, the investigators found that almost all of the advanced Russian military gear they examined — like encrypted radios and laser range finders — was built with Western semiconductors. The investigators were unable to determine whether the Kh-101 remnants they studied were from missiles that reached their targets and exploded or were intercepted in flight and shot down. The Kh-101 missiles were marked with a 13-digit numerical sequence. The investigators said they believe that the first three digits represent the factory where the missile was made, followed by another three-digit code indicating which of two known versions of the Kh-101 it is and two digits indicating when it was manufactured. A final string of five numbers is believed to denote the missile’s production batch and serial number. Piotr Butowski, a Polish journalist who has written extensively about Russia’s warplanes and military munitions, said the group’s numerical analysis matched up with his research. “The first three digits are always ‘315’ — this is the production facility code,” Mr. Butowski said in an email. “Kh-101 missiles are developed and manufactured by the Raduga company in Dubna near Moscow.”
|
Iran sentences rapper to death for backing protests, state media reports
323Yesterday, 17:50Message of the Third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on the Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide
71124.04.2024, 09:48Ruben Vardanyan was allowed to call his family for the first time
126321.04.2024, 09:36British intelligence: Over 100 Russian combat aircraft lost to Ukrainian defenses
109520.04.2024, 22:36U.S. and Israel Meet to Discuss Rafah Operation
117419.04.2024, 01:18Bride dies at own wedding in freak tragedy in front of traumatised family
130217.04.2024, 22:18#Times: London, Yerevan hold talks on sending illegal migrants to Armenia
142915.04.2024, 12:06Iran may attack Israel on Sunday morning — Al Jazeera
160213.04.2024, 23:48