New image of a Russian Tu-22M Backfire with cruise missile emerges

Not many images showing the KH-22, a large, long-range cruise missile developed by the Soviet Union to target U.S. Navy aircraft carriers with a conventional or nuclear warhead, can be found on the Internet.

Those that you can find if you Google “KH-22” are mainly old ones, hence a recent clear air-to-air image showing a Tu-22M Backfire flying with a couple of missiles that are dubbed AS-4 “Kitchen” by NATO, deserve a mention.

The photograph in this post was uploaded on the Russianplanes.net portal by a user using the nickname “White” and shows the Tu-22 flying with two KH-22s (most probably upgraded to the KH-32 version, which features new seeker head and rocket motor), capable to reach a top speed of about Mach 5 and a range around 700 km.

One missile is clearly visible under the port wing, the other one is probably carried on the starboard underwing pylon.

Image credit: “White”

 

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About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.