| 10Kh |
|---|
| 10Kh | |
|---|---|
| Type | cruise missile |
| Place of origin | USSR |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Vladimir N. Chelomey |
| Designed | 1945 |
| Manufacturer | OKB-51 |
| Produced | 1945 |
| Number built | 300 (10Kh) |
| Variants | 10Kh Izdeliye 30 10KhN 14Kh 14KhK1 15Kh 16Kh 17Kh 18Kh Gliding bomb |
| Specifications | |
|
|
|
| Engine | Chelomey D-3 ca 400 kgp (880 lb) thrust |
| Propellant | Gasoline |
| Boost time | Solid fuel rockets (ramp launching) |
| Launch platform |
Petlyakov Pe-8 Tupolev Tu-2LL |
10Kh was the designation for the initial series of Soviet Union air-launched pulse jet engine powered cruise missiles, reverse engineered from the Fieseler Fi 103 (V-1) flying bomb.[1] cruise missiles developed in the 1950s (and cancelled in the same decade) by the OKB-51[2] under the leadership of Vladimir Chelomey and based on the V-1 flying bomb.
Reports of the German V-1 flying bomb attacks on London prompted Stalin to order a program to develop a Soviet equivalent, the program commencing in June 1944. Vladimir Chelomey, who had been working on pulse jet engines, was assigned to the project in October 1944 and given control of the OKB-51 design bureau following the death of famous designer N.N. Polikarpov. The program was assisted by the recovery of a partial V-1 by Societ forces at the Blizna test range in Poland. The initial V-1 copy was called 10Kh and later Izdeliye 10 ("Article 10"). Serial production was scheduled to commence in March 1945 with 100 per month, increasing to 450 per month later that year.[3]
By the end of 1944 the development of the D-3 pulse engine that propelled the 10Kh was at the prototype stage and the first production 10Kh was ready on February 5, 1945. As no launching ramps had been constructed, the first test was an air launch from a Petlyakov Pe-8 heavy bomber on 20 March 1945, near Tashkent. By 25 July 1945 66 missiles had been launched, of which 44 transitioned to autonomous flight, 22 of these reaching the range target and 20 maintaining the required heading.[4] A batch of improved 10Kh (Izdeliye 30) were constructed with wooden wings, and 73 more air launches were performed in December 1948. A ground launched variant called 10KhN was also tested in 1948, which used rocket-assisted takeoff from a ramp.
The purpose of the first tests was to determine the factibility of dropping the 10Kh missiles from a plane in flight and, about 100 meter below the plane, ignite the pulse jet, but only 6 out of 22 missiles did so correctly. The second series of tests were on corrected faults in the missiles, allowing a success of 12 out of the 22 missiles launched. The final tests were conducted to determine the precision (6 of 18 missiles launched impacted the target) and effectiveness (from 4 missiles, 3 detonated successfully) of the missiles.[5]