Russian cruise-missile design house NPO Mashinostroenia is offering a redesigned variant of its Alfa submarine- and ship-launched stand-off missile for the air-launched role.
The first version of the Alfa was shown "mounted" under the centre weapons station of a Sukhoi Su-27IB, for use in the maritime-strike role. It now appears, however, that this version was the ship/submarine-launched variant.
Sukhoi has recently shown a model of an Su-27IB, optimised for maritime strike and dubbed the Su-32FN, with four medium-range air-to-surface missiles on the inboard wing stations.
Although similar in basic layout to the ship-launched Alfa, the air-launched variant is notably shorter, with the engine intake much further forward on the fuselage.
Russian sources have identified the missile as the Alfa. It is also believed that the two variants have different powerplants. The ship-launched version has a ramjet, while the air-launched variant has a turbojet. The latter, therefore, has a lower supersonic cruise speed.
It is thought that the missile can be used against marine and land targets, using an imaging radar for terminal guidance. The design bureau gives the weapon a maximum range of 300km (160nm).
The status of the Alfa development programme remains unclear. NPO Mashinostroenia has previously admitted that it was struggling to fund the programme, and had been looking for an export customer to finance the project.
NPO Mashinostroenia is also developing the Yakhont (SS-NX-27) ramjet-powered anti-ship missile. The status of this project is also uncertain, but it may have been a competitor to the Novator Alpha/ Onyx (SS-NX-26) anti-ship missile being developed for the Russian navy's next-generation attack submarine, the Severodvinsk.
Source: Flight International
