Another Russian missile falls short: Ch‑101 crashes within its own borders in ongoing weapons debacle

There have been increasingly frequent reports of accidental crashes of Russian missiles within their own territory in recent days. During an attack on Saturday, January 13th in Krasnodar Krai, a 3M14 Kalibr missile intended for land combat failed. Around the same time, a Ch-55 missile was inadvertently destroyed by the Russians.

The common factor between these incidents is that each missile was supposed to land in places that match their flight paths. This suggests that the missiles were probably damaged in transit to Ukraine, their intended target, but malfunctioned and crashed back in Russia instead.

The Russian Federation has yet to comment on these incidents, so the causes behind these recent setbacks remain unknown. However, it can be speculated that Russia's plan to intensify factory production is beginning to have detrimental effects. A combination of sanctions and increased work pace could potentially lead to factories producing defective and malfunctioning missiles.

The latest documented case of a Russian missile crash within Russia comes from nearby Yelan, as reported by the Defence Blog portal. Local residents photographed the wreckage of the Ch-101 missile that fell into a field.

This is a type of ammunition with a history dating back to the 90s. The first attempts to launch the Ch-101 took place in 2004, with production beginning in 2010-2011. The Russians aimed to design the Ch-101 to be hard to detect during flight, which resulted in a flattened fuselage.

The missile measures approximately 24.3 feet in length and weighs just under 2.75 tons. Its destructive power comes from a warhead weighing up to 1,058 lbs, along with its extensive range exceeding 2,796 miles. This implies that the Ch-101 can hit targets virtually anywhere on the globe. An essential feature of the missile is its advanced guidance systems, designed to maintain exceptional precision on target impact. The Ch-101 is equipped with satellite and inertial navigation, a radar altimeter, and an optical terrain observation system during flight. This combination ensures attack accuracy within several meters.