Ukrainian special services eliminate designer of top level Russian cruise missiles

Mikhail Shatsky, deputy chief designer of Mars Bureau, chief of the bureau's software department, was killed in Moscow. Shatsky took part in the works to upgrade the Kh-59 cruise missiles to the Kh-69 level. He was also engaged in the introduction of new UAVs.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Mike1979 Russia, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Kh-59MK missile

Photos and videos from the crime scene available on Pravda.Ru Telegram channel.

According to preliminary reports, Mikhail Shatsky was eliminated in an operation conducted by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, RBC-Ukraine reports with reference to security forces.

Shatsky was shot in the Kuzminsky forest park near Kotelniki near Moscow.

A man was shot in the Kuzminsky forest park on the evening of December 10, the shooter escaped. The crime could be a contract killing, REN TV said with reference to its source.

"The information was not confirmed," the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

There is no official information about the incident yet.

Mars Bureau is part of Rosatom (State Atomic Energy Corporation). The Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) Department of On-Board Automation for Unmanned Space and Atmospheric Aircraft operates on the bureau's premises. Mikhail Shatsky's name appears on the university website as the head of the department at Mars Bureau. MAI's social media said that Mars Bureau also develops Russian Kh-55, Kh-59, and Kh-101 cruise missiles.

Details

The Kh-59 Ovod is a Russian cruise missile with a two-stage solid-fuel propulsion system and 200 km range. The Kh-59M Ovod-M (AS-18 'Kazoo') is a variant with a bigger warhead and turbojet engine. It is primarily a land-attack missile; the Kh-59MK variant targets ships. The initial design was based on the Raduga Kh-58 (AS-11 'Kilter'), but it had to be abandoned because the missile speed was too high for visual target acquisition. Raduga OKB developed the Kh-59 in the 1970s as a longer ranged version of the Kh-25 (AS-10 'Karen'), as a precision stand-off weapon for the Su-24M and late-model MiG-27's. The electro-optical sensors for this and other weapons such as the Kh-29 (AS-14 'Kedge') and KAB-500KR bombs were developed by S. A. Zverev NPO in Krasnogorsk. It is believed that development of the Kh-59M started in the 1980s. Details of the Kh-59M were first revealed in the early 1990s.