Remember when Russia used a old and obsolete Soviet-era missile to attack Ukraine?

When Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it is unlikely he believed the conflict would turn into a multi-year-long fight that would see both countries employ a wide variety of older and obsolete weapons against the other.

While new technologies like drones and unmanned autonomous vehicles have dominated headlines, older weapons have also seen a resurgence on the battlefield, especially older missiles developed decades before the war.

In January 2023, one older missile made major headlines after evidence of its use was published online. It led many analysts and news outlets to question Russian resources and whether or not the formerly second-best military in the world was running out of weapons.

Russian forces reportedly fired a Soviet-era supersonic anti-ship missile at Ukraine during a large-scale missile barrage.

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

Defense Express was one of the first media organizations to report on the photos of a downed missile circulating social media in January 2024. The images appeared to show what analysts broadly said looked like a very old four-ton Soviet supersonic anti-ship missile. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @front_ukrainian

Analysis of markings on the missile led Defense Express to determine the weapon was a P-35 supersonic anti-ship missile. This type of missile was developed in the 1950s under the 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 made it an easy mark to identify according to Defense Express. But the situation was not as clear cut as it appeared due to how the missile had been identified. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin

A journalist at The War Zone pointed out that several online outlets had identified the downed missile as the P-35, P-35B, or 3M44, and explained that all of those missiles were related and looked 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 were used to arm coastal defense systems and are collectively referred to by their NATO codename in Western nations—the SSC-1B Sepal.

The War Zone pointed out that the downed missile seen in the images that circulated social media of the missile’s wreckage site suggested it was likely a 3M44, though the outlet added it could have also been the older P-35B version of the missile. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By karel291, CC BY 3.0

The Soviet Union’s P-35B was an anti-ship missile fielded in the 1960s and was used for coastal defense. It reportedly had a range of roughly 270 kilometers or 168 miles and was 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. 

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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 2024. 

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 noted that Ukraine didn't operate any large ships in its navy at that time. 

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 showed it was most likely shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, though The Warzone pointed out reports on how the missile was taken out were unconfirmed. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @front_ukrainian

However, the pile of metal 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 the incident in January was 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.”