Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said on May 20 that its investigators detected elevated radiation on fragments of a Russian Vympel R-60 air-to-air missile mounted on a modified Iranian-designed Geran-2 attack drone, recovered near the village of Kamka in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region after an April 7 strike. The R-60 — NATO codename AA-8 — was replaced in the 1980s by the R-73. Ukrainian specialists measured gamma radiation of 12 microsieverts per hour at the impact site, dozens of times above the natural background. The SBU opened a war crimes investigation under Article 438 of Ukraine’s criminal code. Russia is mounting these missiles on its modified Shahed-136 drones to target Ukrainian aircraft sent to intercept incoming drone swarms.
Putin Has a New Nuclear Move in Ukraine
Image Credit: Creative Commons. Image is of a Russian missile being tested.
Depleted uranium has been found inside an older model Russian-made air-to-air missile (AAM) that was mounted on board a modified Russian attack drone. The revelation was made by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Kyiv’s main civilian intelligence agency.
The SBU also issued a warning to civilians not to approach the wreckage created by the missile’s impact, as the surrounding area was contaminated with radiation and toxic dust.
The SBU released a statement on Wednesday, 20 May, that its investigating team had detected higher-than-usual radiation on fragments remaining from the missile. The missile itself was an older-model Vympel R-60 infrared (IR)-homing AAM, known by its NATO codename AA-8.
The R-60 was replaced in the 1980s by the R-73 (AA-11), which is today marketed in a modernized variant known as RVV-MD, which is a Russian acronym for “AAM-Short Range”. Russia’s arms-exporting agency, Rosoboronexport (ROE), and the missile’s designers advertise the weapon as their analog of the US-made AIM-9X.
The SBU reports that they first recovered the remaining fragments of the R-60 missile near the village of Kamka in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region following a drone attack on April 7.
Iran’s Drones That Russia Is Using. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
“Counterintelligence officers and investigators of the Security Service uncovered elevated radiation levels on fragments of a Russian missile that the occupiers had integrated into a modified Geran-2 attack drone,” the SBU said.
The SBU also said that it had opened a new war crimes investigation under Article 438 of Ukraine’s criminal code over this incident.
Securing the Warhead
Being the land of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, Ukraine is no stranger to the science of examining and measuring levels of radioactive contamination.
Specialists who examined the area of the missile’s impact measured gamma radiation levels of 12 microsieverts per hour in the immediate area of the debris.
This is described in the Ukrainian media as “dozens of times above typical natural background radiation.”
For comparison, the average person receives about 10 microsieverts of radiation in a single day.
Background radiation levels are already higher than normal in areas of Ukraine – again due to the Chornobyl incident.
Spending 8 hours next to the wreckage would expose a person to the same radiation levels as a dental X-ray, but carrying a fragment emitting that level in a backpack for weeks or months could result in a dangerously high cumulative dose with serious long-term health risks.
SBU officials said the greatest danger from this kind of weapon is from damaged or burned munitions because that kind of fragmented munition – they warned – can release radioactive dust that is hazardous to both people and the environment.
The SBU said emergency crews working in concert with Ukraine’s State Emergency Service and the Armed Forces (ZSU) cleaned up the area, placed the missile warhead in safe containers, and transported the radioactive materials to a storage site.
“Remember, this is Ukraine,” said a defense industry executive whose company works on the front lines with the ZSU. “We have no shortage of experience in dealing with hazardous materials generated in this war.”
According to the SBU, counterintelligence officers and investigators determined that the debris they examined came from a modified Russian Geran-2 drone, a variant of the Shahed-136, originally developed in Iran.
Depleted Uranium
Depleted uranium is a very dense metal left over after the uranium enrichment process used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants. In its highly enriched form, uranium is used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
But the radioactive properties are not the reason it is being used in missile warheads, such as the one found by the SBU. Depleted uranium has been used for decades in high-rate-of-fire Gatling-style aircraft cannon, such as those on board the A-10 Warthog, and in the US-made SABOT tank round.
Because it is so hard and dense, military establishments have been adding depleted uranium to armor-piercing munitions for its ability to punch through steel and other heavy armor plating.
Russian forces have been fitting some Iranian-designed Geran-2 drones with these R-60 missiles, originally designed for Soviet-era fighter jets.
Ukraine’s military says these missiles are used on-board Russian drones in order to target aircraft and helicopters that are often sent to intercept incoming drones.
MORE – The A-12 Avenger II Was the Flying Dorito Stealth Bomber Mistake
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, with a specialization in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
