The missile found near the city of Bydgoszcz is a Russian Kh-55 – RMF FM

The missile discovered at the end of April in the city of Bydgoszcz is a Russian Kh-55. Such a preliminary conclusion was made by the Air Force Institute of Technology.

RMF FM correspondents reported on this.

This Institute is conducting an examination for the prosecutor’s office of an object that a bypasser found in the forest.

The conclusions of the Air Force Institute of Technology indicate that the Kh-55 cruise missile most likely appeared at the site from the eastern border of Poland.

The Polish military does not have such weapons or systems from which it can be launched. This excludes the version that the missile was launched from a Polish training ground, for example, during exercises.

If confirmed to be the Kh-55, it would mean that it was launched from a Russian aircraft.

Last December, during massive missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine, Russia also used aircraft stationed in Belarus.

Then, due to the sighting of a Su-34 fighter bomber near NATO airspace, aviation took off. During these measures, Polish services detected an object that flew into Polish airspace, probably from the side of Belarus.

This object was tracked but lost sight of it in the Bydgoszcz area. It happened about two kilometers away from the place where the missile was found.

According to RMF FM sources, the object was looked for back in December, but after failure, the search was stopped, in particular, due to difficult weather conditions.

The publication notes that the military did not inform the prosecutor’s office about the violation of the airspace by an unknown object, although they should have done so.

The prosecutor’s office qualified the fall of the cruise missile as a case that threatens the life and health of many people. It is likely that the incident will now be reclassified.

The performance of official duties by employees will also be checked to determine whether they have exceeded their authority.

Background

On April 24, a bypasser came across the remnants of an unknown object in a forest near Bydgoszcz. RMF FM journalists reported that it was an air-to-ground missile, but it was impossible to say exactly when it got there.

The next day, the Polish military announced an “intensive investigation and checks”. It was later reported that US experts were involved in the investigation to find out what kind of missile it was and how it could get to Poland. The missile found in the forest did not have a warhead.

The Kh-55 is a Soviet subsonic air-launched cruise missile. It was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s to arm strategic bombers.

The missile flies at subsonic speeds at extremely low altitudes and can go around the terrain. The Kh-55 is intended for use against stationary ground targets with pre-defined coordinates. The Kh-555 missile is a deeply modernized version of the Kh-55.

At the beginning of December last year, the Central Military and Scientific Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Russian military started using Kh-55 missiles without a warhead during missile strikes on Ukraine.

The use of Soviet-made cruise missiles equipped with a inert warhead is probably caused by several factors and is aimed at exposing Ukraine’s air defense system and its depletion.

The General Staff stressed that even an “uncharged” missile poses a significant threat due to its own kinetic energy and fuel residues.