The Zvezda Kh-66 and Kh-23 Grom (Russian: Х-23 Гром 'Thunder'; NATO: AS-7 'Kerry') are a family of early Soviet tactical air-to-surface missiles with a range of 10 km.
The Kh-66 was a beam-riding weapon that was first tested on the MiG-21PFM,[4] with the first launches of the missile in September 1966[6].It entered production in 1968 for that aircraft.
It entered service on 20 June 1968[1].The reason it was only carried on the MIG-21PFM was, since it was a beam-riding missile, it was paired with a radar, the RP-21M, which other aircraft did not have.
[3] The main practical difference was that it was a line-of-sight radio-command weapon similar to the Bullpup, allowing it to be fired in level flight (unlike the Kh-66).
The first ten were tested in early 1968,[3] but significant delays were caused by problems with unreliable guidance which was eventually traced to the smoke generator which interfered with the antenna.
[3] Once the receiver had been moved to a tail extension,[3] the government tested the missile on the MiG-23 and MiG-23B between 20 March 1970 and 3 October 1973.