Kh-101: Russia's long-range air-launched cruise missile

The Kh-101 (Russian Х-101) is a Russian air-launched cruise missile¹, known to NATO as the AS-23 Kodiak, and the Kh-102 is its nuclear-armed version. The Raduga bureau designed it as a stealthier replacement for the Kh-55, and CSIS lists it in service since 2012² with Russia’s long-range bombers. Russia fires it at Ukraine from Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers, and Ukraine’s Air Force reported 35 Kh-101 cruise missiles³ launched in the single night to 14 May.

Design and development

Work on a successor to the Kh-55 began in the late 1980s, with a conventional warhead for the Kh-101 and a nuclear one for the Kh-102; the missile was designed by Igor Seleznyev of Raduga. CSIS writes that full-scale development likely began in 1995², and the missile’s first flight is dated to 1998¹, with evaluation trials from 2000 and acceptance into service in 2012.

The airframe drops the round cross-section of the Kh-55 for a nose and forward body shaped to produce lift¹. TWZ describes it as a substantially revised derivative⁴ of the Kh-55/Kh-555 family with some stealthy features, and points to its low-observable design⁵, meant to reduce its radar cross-section. Navigation combines inertial and satellite navigation⁶ with terrain-contour and scene matching. Defense Express, citing a Ukrainian General Staff briefing, reported an upgraded version in use since late 2022⁷, with a camera of three fixed lenses in place of one swivelling lens and an L-504 unit that releases radar-reflecting chaff.

Specifications

CSIS gives the Kh-101 a length of 7.45 m², a diameter of 0.51 m and a launch weight of 2,300 to 2,400 kg, with a 450 kg high-explosive, penetrating or cluster warhead; the Kh-102 reportedly carries a 250 kt nuclear charge. The missile is fired without a booster and is powered by a TRDD-50A turbofan. CSIS puts its cruising speed at Mach 0.58 and its top speed at Mach 0.78, while other listings give a top speed of 970 km/h¹ and a cruising height of 30 to 70 m above the ground.

Range figures differ widely. CSIS lists 2,500 to 2,800 km², with an unconfirmed Russian claim of 4,500 km, while Piotr Butowski wrote in TWZ in 2022 of roughly 2,175 miles⁶, about 3,500 km. In January 2024 a Raduga representative told Russia’s defence minister that the warhead had grown from 450 kg to 800 kg⁸, and wreckage from a missile downed in a later night attack showed a second warhead fitted in place of part of the fuel tank. The UK Ministry of Defence assessed that this twin-warhead version had likely halved its range⁵.

Procurement documents obtained by Militarnyi put the price of a Kh-101 under 2024 contracts at RUB 164 million, about $2 million⁹, and at RUB 171 to 194 million for 2025.

Launch platforms

The Kh-101 is carried by the Tu-95MS and the Tu-160 of Russia’s Long-Range Aviation, and Butowski called it in 2022 the only conventional cruise missile⁶ then available to those bombers. According to Defense Express, a Tu-95MS can carry up to 8 Kh-101s¹⁰ on external mounts and a Tu-160 up to 12 Kh-101 or Kh-555 missiles. CSIS also lists the Tu-22M3 and the Su-27IB among its launch platforms².

Operators and combat use

The Russian Aerospace Forces are the only listed user¹. The missile’s combat debut came in Syria: CSIS records that Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers launched 32 Kh-101s² against Islamic State targets on 19 and 20 November 2015, followed by further strikes in 2016 and 2017.

Against Ukraine the Kh-101 has been used from the first weeks of the full-scale invasion. On 6 March 2022 the Air Force command said eight missiles, presumably Kh-101s¹¹, fired by Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers from the Black Sea area, struck the Vinnytsia airfield. On 8 July 2024 the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit; the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said there was a high likelihood of a direct hit¹², assessed as a Russian Kh-101, and Ukraine’s Security Service reported Kh-101 fragments at the scene. Two people were killed and 32 wounded.

Militarnyi reported in October 2025 that Raduga received contracts for 525 missiles for 2024⁹, that 700 had been contracted for 2025 and 30 more for 2026. Ukraine’s Air Force said that in the night to 14 May, 35 Kh-101s were launched from the Vologda region and 29 were shot down or suppressed³, and that Ukraine’s defence forces destroyed 14 Kh-101 cruise missiles¹³ in October 2026.

Variants

• Kh-101 (AS-23A¹): the conventional missile, with a 450 kg warhead² of high-explosive, penetrating or cluster type.
• Kh-102 (AS-23B¹): the nuclear version, reportedly with a 250 kt warhead², though some sources give up to 450 kt.
• Izdeliye 504AP: a subvariant with a countermeasures dispenser, first reported in late 2022⁴ and shown by Ukraine’s armed forces at a press conference in February 2023.
• Twin-warhead Kh-101: the 2024 version with a second fragmentation warhead and a smaller fuel tank, described by Defense Express⁸ and TWZ.

Similar weapons

• Kh-55: the older bomber-launched cruise missile it replaces, which TWZ treats as the family it was derived from⁴; its conventional Kh-555 version flies from the same bombers.
• Kh-59: an air-launched cruise missile for tactical aviation, 4.2 m long against 7.45 m¹⁴ for the Kh-101.
• 3M-54 Kalibr: a cruise missile family with ship-, submarine- and air-launched versions¹⁵ and a 3M-14 land-attack version, whose engine comes from the same TRDD-50 line¹⁴.