72177 X-20M (NATO CODE AS-3 KANGAROO) SOVIET MISSILE

The Ch-20 (another designation: AS-3 Kangaroo) was a Soviet long-range air-to-surface missile. The AS-3 Kangaroo was a missile with a range of up to 600 kilometers, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead with a power of 300 kT to 3 Mt, with a total curb weight of approx. 12,000 kg. The Ch-20 missile was developed by Mikhail Guryevich, the famous Soviet aircraft constructor, as an armament for the Tu-95 strategic bombers. The first work on the missile began in 1954, and its development was based on the experience and aerodynamic assumptions derived from the use of MiG-17 or MiG-19 aircraft. A Lulka AL-7FK turbojet engine was used as the drive. Work continued until the end of the 1950s, and the Ch-20 missile entered line service in 1960. Originally, it was planned that the Tu-95 armed with the Ch-20 missiles would attack strategic targets in the United States, but later the concept was withdrawn in favor of attacking groups of American aircraft carriers and the purpose of the Ch-20 missiles for the so-called II atomic strike. In the mid-1980s, missiles of this type were replaced by the Ch-22.