During the massive shelling of Kyiv, Russia used a Kh-101 missile manufactured in the fourth quarter of 2023. Experts received a photograph of the downed Kh-101 missile, which has an encrypted serial number. Decryption showed that the munition was manufactured recently, Defense Express has reported.
The authors of the publication received a photo of the downed Kh-101 missile. The serial number is clearly visible on it, which made it possible to establish the date of manufacture. This confirms the opinion that the Russian Aerospace Forces did not fire missiles at Ukraine because they needed to accumulate a sufficient number of missiles for large-scale attacks, but this does not mean that Russia's missile arsenal is running out. However, it does show that the pace of missile attacks will depend on the production of new missiles.
The analysed photo of the downed Kh-101 missile, which has an encrypted serial number, confirms that the munition was manufactured quite recently.
"Usually, the possible date of manufacture of a racist munition is indicated by a ten-digit serial number that is applied to all parts of the enemy missile structure. This marking also allows us to find out the origin of the components for the missiles, so, for example, a specific method of 'disguising' Russian Kh-101s was recorded in January 2023 - the ruscists simply erased the serial numbers with a grinder," the publication writes.
Now the Russians have started to put serial numbers on their missiles that make them difficult to decipher. The first six digits are a "complete abracadabra". Previously, products manufactured in 2023 had a number starting with "315", while missiles manufactured after 2020 had "263".
"The indication of the 4th quarter of 2023 as the time of manufacture of the downed Kh-101 is 'embedded' in the number 9 (in other words, "5" should be subtracted from the seventh digit in the serial number, and this will give the number of the quarter in which the missile was manufactured)," Defense Express notes.