Kh-69: Russia's stealthy air-launched cruise missile

The Kh-69 is a Russian stealthy subsonic air-launched cruise missile¹ developed from the Kh-59, with a range of at least 400 km and a smaller radar signature than its predecessors; NATO calls it the AS-22 Kazoo. It was developed by the Raduga company, part of Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corporation (KTRV). In September 2023 the International Institute for Strategic Studies described it as a land-attack missile likely comparable to Storm Shadow or Taurus KEPD 350².

Design and development

The missile began as the Kh-59MK2, which first appeared in 2009 looking like the anti-ship Kh-59MK, but with inertial navigation updated by GPS and GLONASS and an electro-optical scene-matching system for the run-in to the target. According to TWZ, the design was reworked in 2015 with low-observable features, its external engine nacelle gave way to an internal turbofan, and Raduga then developed a domestic version, the Kh-69, with a simplified nose. Only the guidance system stayed unchanged in that redesign², which gave the missile a boxy body of trapezoidal section, shaped to fit the weapons bay of the Su-57.

In May 2018 CSIS reported a video showing a Su-57 launching a Kh-59MK2³. TWZ described an official video, released after the Su-57’s brief 2018 deployment to Syria, of a Su-57 releasing a Kh-69, and noted that it was possibly footage of a test in Russia, as the red-painted missile suggested. The Kh-69 was first unveiled in August 2022, when a mock-up was shown at Army-2022. IISS assessed in February 2023 that it was likely in the final stages of development or entering production², and in September 2023 it reported the missile in testing¹.

Specifications

TWZ gives the Kh-69 a length of around 13 ft 9 in, roughly 4.2 m, a weight of around 1,700 lb (about 770 kg) and a speed of up to 621 mph (1,000 km/h), with a penetrating or cluster warhead of up to 680 lb. Other reporting says it weighs under 800 kg and carries a warhead of around 300 kg, and Defense Express gave the Kh-59MK2 a 310 kg warhead⁴. The missile has one pair of wings and four rear fins¹ that unfold after launch, and it can reportedly fly as low as 20 m above the ground. It uses GPS and GLONASS satellite navigation with an inertial backup. An electro-optical seeker was reported in 2022, but TWZ notes that the Kh-69’s simplified nose lacks the window of the DSMAC guidance system, and describes the missile as intended mainly for hardened targets with known coordinates².

In February 2024 TWZ wrote that the missile is said to have a range of at least 186 miles², about 300 km. After the April 2024 strikes, the Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces had reportedly fired Kh-69s from 400 kilometres away from their targets⁵, beyond an earlier estimated range of 300 km. In July 2026 Defense Express estimated that one Kh-69 may cost $500,000 to $800,000⁶.

Launch platforms

TWZ considers the Kh-69 very likely designed for the Su-57, shaped to fit its weapons bay², and says the manufacturer also names the MiG-29K, MiG-35, Su-30MK, Su-34 and Su-35 as carriers. Over Ukraine, Defense Express reported in 2026 that the Kh-59 and Kh-69 are typically launched from Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft⁶. In 2024 its makers presented it to Indian Air Force representatives¹ as a weapon for the Su-30MKI.

Operators and combat use

Russia is the only listed operator¹. In February 2024 a Ukrainian military blogger posted a photo said to show a rear fin of a Kh-69 downed on 7 February, and an account on X claimed that three Kh-69s and three Kh-59s were launched² overnight on 7 to 8 February, a use TWZ said it could not yet be sure of.

On 11 April 2024 a Russian attack destroyed the Trypillia thermal power plant in Kyiv Oblast, and the Ukrainian military said the plant was hit by Kh-69 missiles. Air Force spokesperson Illia Yevlash called the Kh-69 an improved version of the Kh-59⁷ and said the missiles contained parts made in 2023, while Defense Express reported that debris found in Kyiv Oblast pointed to the Kh-69. The Institute for the Study of War said in April 2024 that it had not previously observed Russian use⁵ of the missile in Ukraine.

On 19 October 2024 a Ukrainian Telegram channel reported that a Kh-69 with a cluster warhead⁸ had been shot down, a payload Militarnyi said had not been seen in Ukraine before. In July 2026 Defense Express reported that Ukraine’s 208th Brigade destroyed a Kh-59/69 missile⁶ during an attack on Odesa region. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched three Kh-59/69 guided air-launched missiles⁹ from the Sea of Azov area in the night to 8 November.

Variants

Militarnyi wrote that the first confirmed strikes used a penetrating high-explosive warhead⁸, and that the missile downed in October 2024 was a new version whose cluster warhead holds metal pellets. Its direct ancestor, the Kh-59MK2, existed in a 2009 form with an external engine² and in the 2015 low-observable form from which Raduga developed the Kh-69.

Similar weapons

• Kh-59: the older family it grew out of; the 2009 Kh-59MK2 still carried an external engine nacelle², where the Kh-69 has an internal turbofan and a boxy body.
• Storm Shadow / SCALP EG: the European missile it has been compared with; TWZ puts the Kh-69 at around 13 ft 9 in against 16 ft 9 in², about two-thirds of the size and payload.
• Kh-101: a much larger Russian air-launched cruise missile, 7.45 m long⁴, which TWZ calls heavier-hitting and longer-ranged.