Russia attacks Kharkiv with Grom-E1 missile-bomb for first time: Details
Photo: Russians attacked Kharkiv for the first time with a Grom-E1 hybrid missile (t.me/prokuratura_kharkiv)
Russian troops recently hit Kharkiv with a Grom-E1 hybrid missile. This was the first use of this type of weapon against this city.
RBC-Ukraine provides the main characteristics of the Grom-E1 in the report below.
The first use of this weapon against Kharkiv was reported by Mayor Ihor Terekhov. According to him, it happened during an evening Russian attack on the city on August 31, 2024.
According to open sources, the Grom-E1 hybrid missile is based on the Soviet Kh-38 missile. Its maximum range can be 120 km.
Tactical and technical characteristics:
- Launch weight: 594 kg.
- Warhead: high-explosive fragmentation warhead, 315 kg.
- Launch range: 10 km - 120 km.
- Launch altitude: 500 m - 12000 m.
- Carrier aircraft speed: 140 - 445 m/s.
- Average flight speed (launch altitude 12000 m, carrier speed 445 m/s, distance to target 120 km): 300 m/s.
- Linear overloads: up to 4g.
- Propulsion system: weight 161 kg, has a starting and a propulsion engine, it is possible to use a rocket engine from the Kh-38 missile.
This cruise missile (product 9-A-7759) has a high-explosive modular warhead (MW) of the 9-Zh1-7759 type, weighing 315 kg with a contact fuze. After the munition is dropped, the launch rocket engine starts, and after a while the main rocket engine starts to operate. The missile bomb can descend on the target at a high angle.
In terms of efficiency, this hybrid missile is 1.8 times more effective than the OFAB-250-270 free-fall aircraft bomb.
In addition to the basic Grom-E1, Russia also presented a modification of the Grom-E2. This version does not have a rocket engine module. This made it possible to increase the warhead (up to 480 kg) at the expense of reducing the flight range (up to 65 km). The complex is part of the armament of MiG-35, Su-34, Su-35, Su-57 aircraft and helicopters.
Both missiles have a unified cylindrical body with an animated nose, a normal aerodynamic scheme, and a folding boom wing. They can be deployed both in the internal compartments of the carrier aircraft and on external suspension units. The main purpose of both variants is to destroy ground targets with known coordinates.
In general, this is not the first use of this type of weapon by the Russians in the war against Ukraine. For example, in March 2023, in the Kuibyshev district of Donetsk, fragments of an aircraft munition similar to the Russian Grom system were found.
In addition, on February 1, 2024, a school in Myrnohrad was attacked with a Grom-E1. Also in February 2024, the Russian occupiers shelled Kherson with these hybrid missiles, and in March, Russia destroyed a five-story building in Myrnohrad with this munition. Two entrances were destroyed, killing two people and injuring five.
On August 31, around 10:45 p.m., Russians launched a missile attack on Kharkiv. Russia struck a roadway near a high-rise building in the Sloboda district of the city. As a result, a 13-year-old girl and two women aged 24 and 20 suffered an acute stress reaction, and a 26-year-old man was wounded. The buildings of a civilian enterprise and more than 25 cars were also damaged.
As it turned out later, the wreckage recovered at the scene revealed that Russia struck Kharkiv with a Grom-E1 missile from the village of Berezove, Belgorod region of Russia.
