Mystery surrounds older Soviet-era missile downed in Ukraine

The Russian Armed Forces allegedly launched a Soviet-era supersonic anti-ship missile against Ukraine during a missile barrage in January 2024. Here’s what we know about it and what the incident might mean for the war. 

Defense Express was one of the first media organizations to report on photos of a downed missile circulating social media appearing to show the use of what looked like a very old four-ton Soviet supersonic anti-ship missile. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @front_ukrainian

Markings on the missile led Defense Express to identify the downed weapon as a P-35 supersonic anti-ship missile that began its development in the 1950s Soviet Union and first entered military service back in 1962. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vadim Indeikin, CC BY-SA 3.0

The 10-meter or roughly 32-foot length of the anti-ship missile makes it a fairly easy mark to identify according to Defense Express. But this incident isn’t as clear cut as it appears due to how the missile has been identified. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

Thomas Newdick of The Warzone pointed out that several online outlets have identified the downed missile as the P-35, P-35B, or 3M44 and explained that all of these missiles are related and look superficially similar. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Sas1975kr, Own Work, CC BY-SA 3.0

However, all of the identifications attributed to the downed missile in Ukraine are used to arm coastal defense systems and are collectively referred to by their NATO codename in Western nations—the SSC-1B Sepal.

The Warzone pointed out that the download missile seen in the image circulating social media of the missile’s wreckage site was likely a 3M44, though it added that the missile could also be the older P-35B version. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By karel291, CC BY 3.0

The Soviet Union’s P-35B was an anti-ship missile fielded by the communist state in the 1960s and used for coastal defense that had a reported range of roughly 270 kilometers or 168 miles powered by a turbojet engine. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Service Depicted: Other Service - ID: DN-SN-86-00746, Public Domain

Weighing in at an impressive 4.6 tons, the P-35B was superseded by the 3M44 missile in the 1980s. The 3M44 was a far more impressive weapon and had an effective range of roughly 460 kilometers or 286 miles. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Thomas Taylor Hammond (1920-1993) - University of Virginia Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, CC BY-SA 4.0

The 3M44 had the option to carry a nuclear warhead instead of its conventional 2,000-pound warhead according to The Warzone, which again argued that it was this missile that Russia fired against Ukraine in January. 

Regardless of which missile Moscow fired, it wasn’t used as it was intended since the missile was almost certainly fired at a land target according to The Warzone, which said Ukraine currently doesn’t operate any large ships. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By U.S. Navy / MC2 William Jamieson - Ships conduct Exercise Sea Breeze 2012, Public Domain

Defense Express reported that the images of the downed missile show that it was most likely shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, though The Warzone pointed out that reports on how the missile was taken out were unconfirmed. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @front_ukrainian

However, the pile of metal that can be seen in the images circulating online displayed the characteristic wings of the P-35, which Defense Express noted was a weapon still in use by the Russian Armed Forces. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0

“Nowadays, the standard carrier and launch system is the Redut coastal defense complex. There were eight Redut systems in Russian military service as of 2021 estimations,” Defense Express wrote. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

The Ukrainian defense news website also pointed out that Russia operated one of “the traditional coastal defense launch systems in occupied Crimea. Known as “Utyos, Object 100, or Sotka,” the system is connected to an underground facility in Balaklava.

Photo Credit: Screenshot Wiki Commons By Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

Several outlets noted that this is the first time an older anti-ship missile had been used in the conflict in Ukraine, a fact Defense Express said indicated Russia was “no longer picky in terms of weapons of strikes and disregard potential collateral damage.”