The existence of the Ukrainian Bars cruise missile was officially known since April, when the then Minister of Strategic Industry of Ukraine Herman Smetanin mentioned it along with a number of other long-range weapons - "Peklo", "Palianytsia" and "Ruta".
But since then, not a single photo of this cruise missile, which could be called a missile-drone solely due to bureaucratic reasons for accelerating its entry into the army, has appeared. But this gap has been closed by the Museum of the russian-Ukrainian War at the National Defense University of Ukraine.
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In addition, a video of the launch of this missile from a ground-based launcher using a rocket booster was also made public. Given the heavy snow, it was most likely filmed the previous winter, or recently, as the video is dated December 17.
In general, if you look closely at the photo of the Bars cruise missile, you can notice the use of a fairly classic scheme, which involves placing a small-sized jet engine in the tail of the aircraft above the fuselage. This solution simplifies the design of the missile and allows for relatively easy replacement of engine suppliers without the need to redesign the fuselage.
Bars is a medium-sized aircraft with a wingspan of about 2 meters and has a biplane tail.
The fuselage of the cruise missile, made of composite material, consists of a minimum number of parts, which should really speed up production. This is the feature of this long-range weapon that was mentioned in April this year.
Information about who exactly is the developer and manufacturer of the Bars cruise missile is not disclosed, except that it is a private, not a state-owned company.
Also, in the open access, it is impossible to find clear data on the characteristics of the missile, except for the range of use of 700-800 km. The warhead of the Bars cruise missile is most likely measured in tens of kilograms, or, at best, about 100 kg.
On the part of Defense Express, we note that based on information from our own sources, we can state that the production and use of the Bars cruise missiles is already really massive. In particular, there have already been cases when about 100 Bars cruise missiles were launched at the enemy at the same time.
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