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The Russian Bal costal defense system has demonstrated its land-attack capabilities by striking a number of targets in Ukraine.
On April 20, the Russian Ministry of Defense shared footage of the system, which was originally designed to engage naval vessels, firing a salvo of four Kh-35U cruise missiles from an undisclosed position on the Russian Black Sea coast at military infrastructure targets in Ukraine. The missile strike was reportedly successful.
Each launcher of the Bal system can be armed with up to eight Kh-35 or Kh-35U missiles. The system utilizes the Monolit-B radar, which was especially designed to provide long-range, over-the-horizon active and passive search capabilities. In active mode, the radar can detect surface targets with a range exceeding 100 kilometers. In passive mode, the range increases up to 450 kilometers.
The Kh-35U, developed by Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corporation, is an anti-ship missile with a land-attack capability. The cruise missile has a maximum range of 260 kilometers with a speed of no more than Mach 0.85. The missile can fly as low as four meters before hitting its target.
The cruise missile’s navigation system is built around an inertial navigation system aided by a GLONASS satellite navigation system. The missile is equipped with an active radar seeker for terminal guidance.
The Kh-35U version launched from the Bal system is armed with a 660 kg high explosive fragmentation shaped charge warhead.
The air-launched version of the cruise missile, which is armed with a lighter 550 kg warhead, has been already used to strike military target in Ukraine.
The Russian Navy has struck dozes of Ukrainian military targets with naval and land-based missile systems since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, leaving no doubts about the effectiveness of its offensive capabilities.
