Russia fielding nuclear air-to-air missiles, US assesses

Still from a video published by the Russian Ministry of Defence in 2020, showing the launch of an R-37M from a Su-35S. (Russian MoD)

Russia is fielding nuclear-armed air-to-air missiles (AAMs), according to the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

In its 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment report published on 21 May, the DIA said that Russia has added nuclear AAMs to its inventory as part of a wider expansion of its nuclear forces.

“Russia is expanding its nuclear forces by adding new capabilities, including nuclear air-to-air missiles and novel nuclear systems,” the report said, adding, “Russia is expanding its nuclear posture to Belarus by establishing missile- and nuclear-capable aircraft capabilities, renovating a nuclear weapons storage site, and training Belarusian crews to handle tactical nuclear weapons.”

Although not named in the report, the publication of which was first flagged by Hans Kristensen, director, Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, the nuclear AAMs are likely to be the R-37M, which entered Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) service with a conventional warhead in 2014.

As noted by Janes World Air Forces , the R-37M is a hypersonic ultra‐long‐range AAM that is a modernised variant of the K-37 (Izdeliye 610) long-range missile intended to arm the advanced version of the MiG-31 ‘Foxhound' interceptor.