Kh-23 Grom

The Kh-23 Grom, Russian for Thunder and known to NATO as the AS-7 Kerry, is a family of early Soviet tactical air-to-surface missiles with a range of about 10 kilometres, meant for small ground or naval targets. The family began with the Kh-66, a beam-riding, heavy-warhead adaptation of the K-8 air-to-air missile that entered production in 1968 for the MiG-21PFM, and was rushed to Vietnam that year. The Kh-23 proper replaced beam riding with radio command guidance similar to the American Bullpup, so it could be fired in level flight, and it entered service in 1973 on the MiG-23 after guidance problems traced to the smoke generator were solved. A laser-guided relative became the Kh-25, and the design was later licensed to Romania and Yugoslavia, which produced their own variants including the Serbian Grom-B.