Syria receives Russian anti-ship missiles: Yakhont missile explained

2015-05-15 9

The Yakhont missile is 8.9 meters long and contains a 300kg warhead powered by a ramjet liquid fuel engine, and an ejectable solid rocket engine.

It can be launched by boat, sub, aircraft, or on land and has an estimated range of 250km.

The solid rocket motor carries the rocket to it's cruising altitude and is then ejected near the target area. The missile then initiates its ramjet engine, accelerating to Mach 2.5 before diving to 5 to 10 meters above sea level, where it cruises below the target's radar. The low cruising altitude also defeats most anti-missile systems.
The missiles delivered by Russia also include a more modern radar targeting system than previous versions.