Russia fired missiles at Ukraine made from decommissioned weapons. Experts believe that the Russian Federation is experiencing a shortage of missile ammunition

Media reports that for the first time during a full-scale war, Russia used RM-48U target missiles against Ukraine on the night of January 20.

According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, the Russian Federation currently has approximately 400 such missiles in stock. Ukrainian telegram channels write that in this way the S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems receive dubious capabilities of an operational tactical missile system (OTRK). Target missiles are created using decommissioned anti-aircraft missiles that have reached their service life.

“There is no exact information yet about which Ukrainian region was attacked by a new type of missile, but I can assume that we are talking about the Kyiv region,” Alexander Kovalenko, military-political observer of the Information Resistance group, tells New Europe. — RM-48U missiles are target missiles designed for S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft systems. They are used to train crew operators of these air defense systems. RM-48U is a simplified version of the 5V55 and 48N6DM missiles. Its combat characteristics are significantly inferior to a real combat missile. In the original version, the RM-48U does not have a warhead at all, which is installed additionally. Target missiles taken from warehouses are brought into a state in which they are capable of causing damage to buildings or hitting crowds of people, and they are used as ersatz OTRK. The range of this type of weapon, depending on the modification, can be 30, 70, or even 120 kilometers.”

Alexander Kovalenko recalls that the Russian army used S-300 missiles to attack Kharkov and other Ukrainian cities.

Apparently, the reserves of 5V55 missiles accumulated since Soviet times were depleted, and then they remembered the RM-48U target missiles. There is a clear shortage of ammunition among Russians for both the OTRKs currently in service and the S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.

Decommissioned ammunition

According to Alexander Kovalenko, the Russian command decided to use target missiles due to an acute shortage of standard missiles capable of attacking ground targets in Ukraine. Since 2022, the S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft systems have been used to strike ground targets. The expert suggests that this method of using anti-aircraft ammunition is caused by a shortage of 9M723 missiles for the Iskander OTRK. According to Alexander Kovalenko, today Russian military-industrial complex enterprises can produce on average two 9M723 missiles per day. If we add to this the ballistic missiles supplied from the DPRK, it becomes clear that the Russian army can launch massive missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine almost every day. However, apparently, the Russian military command considers these attacks insufficient and sets the task of scaling up terror against Ukrainians, trying to terrorize the civilian population. Ballistic missiles and tactical missile systems, which are difficult for Ukrainian air defense systems to shoot down, are well suited for this.

“The RM-48U supersonic target missiles are created on the basis of anti-aircraft guided missiles that have been removed from service or have expired,” a Russian military expert tells Novaya-Europa on condition of anonymity. — They use all the junk that is in the warehouses. This makes it possible to obtain missiles for training anti-aircraft gunners with the characteristics of real air targets at minimal cost. These targets are designed to simulate potential enemy air attack capabilities, including tactical aircraft, strategic aircraft, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and hypersonic aircraft. The practice of manufacturing target missiles based on decommissioned anti-aircraft missiles has been used since Soviet times. In total, thousands of such ammunition were made. Now, based on them, surface-to-surface missiles are produced by adding a warhead. This could be a warhead from standard 5V55 and 48N6DM missiles or a modernized high-explosive fragmentation version intended for attacks on areas where manpower is concentrated. According to my information, work on the project is being carried out by OJSC NPO Molniya. The accuracy of such missiles is very low, because they were originally intended for completely different purposes.

Their use in populated areas and urban areas can be considered a war crime. It is clear that they are used because they are cheap and easy to manufacture.”

A Russian military expert suggested that in the near future the Russian army will continue to use RM-48U missiles, including to overload Ukrainian air defense and additionally consume ammunition. After all, to destroy a cheap and fast missile, you will need to spend an anti-missile missile for the Ukrainian air defense system, the supply of which is very limited today.

“In Russia, tens of thousands of missiles of various types still remain in warehouses, including decommissioned, obsolete and long-expired missiles,” says Roman Svitan, a military expert and reserve colonel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in a conversation with Novaya-Europa. — Target missiles are just one of their types. At the same time, the command of the Russian Army has set the task of using everything possible in the production of weapons. That is why the famous “Oreshnik” still uses Soviet components. Making a warhead for the RM-48U is not difficult. And as a result, such missiles will hit area targets where accuracy is not needed. Since there are a lot of these weapons, they can be used for terrorist attacks on Ukrainian cities and intimidation of the population.”