AA-13 Axehead
Very-long-range air-to-air missile (anti-HVAA)
The longest-reaching air-to-air missile in Russian service. Designed to kill high-value, low-agility targets — AWACS, tankers, ISR and C2 aircraft — at extreme range, before they can do their job. Carried by the MiG-31BM, Su-35S and Su-57; forces NATO support aircraft far to the rear.
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- Missile (L × Ø, span)
- 4.06–4.2 m × Ø 380 mm, span 0.7 m; 510–600 kg (sources differ)
- Dimension source
- Wikipedia; WEG (ODIN)
General
- Type
- Beyond-visual-range (BVR), very long
- Guidance
- Inertial + datalink + active radar terminal
- Speed
- ≈ Mach 6
Performance
- Max range
- ≈ 162–216 NM (300–400 km)
- Platform
- MiG-31BM, Su-35S, Su-30SM2, Su-57
- Primary target
- AWACS, tanker, ISR, C2 (HVAA)
- Production
- In March 2025 the Aerospace Forces asked, via KTRV, for 500 sets of electrical components (and 1,000 bodies) a year from 2026; the current production rate is unknown. Leaked documents from the Azov plant (AOMZ), not independently verified — source: RU Mil Tracker e-20260927-01 (Militarnyi / Dallas Analytics)
Threat
- Effect
- Drives support aircraft far behind the front
- Countermeasure
- Stand-off, withdraw HVAA, ECM, warning
- Threat level
- Very high — outranges almost all NATO AAMs
News archive 1
Analysed reports from the RU Mil Tracker about this system, newest first. Archive since 2026-07-17.
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Ukraine hits two Russian missile-component plants in two nights: Almaz-Antey's Iskra in Ulyanovsk (Kh-59, Pantsir parts) and the Azov Optical-Mechanical Plant, which leaked files tie to at least seven missile programs including Kh-101 and Oreshnik
Ukrainian long-range drones struck JSC NPP 'Iskra Plant' in Ulyanovsk overnight on 24–25 September 2026, as part of a wider drone barrage on Russia. The plant belongs to the Almaz-Antey defence conglomerate and makes semiconductor devices, microwave components and electronics. According to Militarnyi and an identification by the independent Russian outlet A…