Independent Working Group Report: Missile Defense, the Space Relationship, and the Twenty-First Century. »»
| Country: | Russian Federation |
|---|---|
| Alternate Name: | Kipper, K-10S |
| Class: | ALCM |
| Target: | Land |
| Length: | 10.00 m |
| Diameter: | 0.90 m |
| Launch Weight: | 4200.00 kg |
| Payload: | 100 kg HE, nuclear |
| Propulsion: | Turbojet |
| Range: | 250.00 km |
| Guidance: | INS, command, active radar |
| Status: | Superceded |
| In Service: | Late 1950s-Late 1960s |
The AS-2 “Kipper” (K-10S) was a short-range, air-launched, turbojet-powered, single warhead, air-to-surface cruise missile developed and manufactured by the Soviet Union. It was developed during the 1950s by the former aircraft-design collective of S. A. Lavochkin, and designed primarily for use against medium to large surface ships.
The AS-2 was deployed under the fuselage of a Tu-16 “Badger-C” aircraft, suspended from the middle section of the aircraft. It was a long, slender, streamlined missile powered by a turbojet engine located under the rear half of the fuselage on a short pylon. The missile was 10 m long, had a body diameter of 0.9 m, a wing span of 4.9 m, and had a launch weight of 4,200 kg. It carried approximately 1,000 kg of fuel. Guidance was provided by the missile’s inertial navigation system (INS) in the midcourse phase, and by an active radar in the terminal phase, The AS-2 had a cruising speed of Mach 0.9 and accelerated to a terminal speed of Mach 2.0. It had a maximum range of 250 km, and carried either a large 1,000 kg high explosive armor-piercing warhead or a 500 kiloton nuclear warhead.
Th AS-2 entered service in the late 1950s, and was deployed on Tu-16 “Badger-C” aircraft. It was phased out of service after the development of the AS-4 “Kitchen” and AS-6 “Kingfish” cruise missiles in the mid- to late-1960s. There were no known exports.(1)