MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The Kalashnikov firearms manufacturer on Friday released the first-ever footage of its Vikhr air-launched missile destroying a US-made Bradley fighting vehicle in the area of the special military operation.
It posted the video to its Telegram channel, with a comment saying, "The first-ever documented destruction of US-made Bradley M2A2 fighting vehicle, by the guided missile Vikhr-1, took place in the Orekhovo area as part of the special military operation."
Retired Colonel Sergey Suvorov, an expert in armored vehicles, previously suggested in an interview with TASS that the Vikhr, which utilizes a tandem-charge warhead, has the potential to destroy any Western-made tank provided to Ukraine.
The Vikhr air-launched missile has been designed to strike ground maneuverable armored targets furnished with reactive armor, along with medium-speed aerial targets such as helicopters, attack aircraft and drones. According to the missile’s developer, the weapon can accelerate to 610 m/s and engage targets at a distance of 800 meters to 8,000 meters. The Vikhr is capable of piercing 750mm homogenous armor plates behind reactive armor.
The Kalashnikov Group completed the flight tests of the improved Vikhr-1 missile in the spring of 2021. The tests involved a Ka-52 helicopter firing 22 of these missiles at a proving ground of the Russian Defense Ministry. The upgrade boosted the missile’s short-range strike capability and increased its flight stability.