Ukraine demonstrates operation of modified Neptune cruise missile for the first time

Recently, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video that probably showed a new version of the R-360 Neptune cruise missile for the first time.

Here's What We Know

The video shows several types of Ukrainian-made military weapons and equipment. In particular, Stugna-P ATGMs, Kozak-5 armoured vehicles, 2S22 Bogdana (3.0) howitzers and the R-360 Neptune anti-ship cruise missile. As for the missile, it is likely to be a new version of the anti-ship Neptune, adapted to destroy ground targets and with an extended range of up to 400 km.

This version could have been used in a night attack on the Russian airfield of Khalino near Kursk.

The first information about the completion of the modification of Ukrainian Neptunes to hit ground targets and their combat use appeared in September last year. At that time, the improved missile effectively destroyed a Russian S-300PM/S or S-400 air defence system in Crimea.

In December, the existence of the new Neptune was also confirmed by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. In addition to changes that allow it to effectively hit ground targets, the missile has an increased range of 400 km, although a variant of up to 1,000 km is expected to appear.

Flashback

The R-360 Neptune is a Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missile developed by the Kyiv-based Luch Design Bureau in 2018. It weighs 870 kilograms. The missile can destroy surface ships at a distance of 280-300 km (as we have already mentioned, the new version can also attack ground targets). The speed of Neptune is 900 km/h, and it can move at an altitude of 10 to 300 metres, but just before hitting the target, the altitude drops to about 3 metres. It is also possible that this missile was used to sink the Russian missile cruiser Moskva in April 2022.

Source: Defence 24