War in Ukraine: “Now capable of hitting targets at longer ranges”, Ukraine has improved its formidable R-360 Neptune cruise missiles

On X, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced significant progress in the country's missile production program. He stated that the mass production of the R-360 Neptune cruise missile had been “accelerated“. Recent improvements of the Neptune system have extended its reach: “modified missiles are now capable of hitting targets at longer ranges“writes the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in its post.

The R-360 Neptune missile, developed by the Ukrainian design bureau Luch, has been in service since 2021. It is based on the design of the Soviet Kh-35 missile and is capable of targeting a variety of warshipsincluding cruisers, destroyers and landing ships, with a displacement of up to 5,000 tons.

Range up to 1,000 kilometers

The missile is just over 5 meters long, weighs 870 kilograms and is equipped with a 150 kilogram warhead. He has a scope ranging up to 300 kilometers, but recent improvements have increased this to 400 kilometers, with further developments aiming to reach 1,000 kilometers.

The Neptune system is designed to be mobile and deploy quicklyallowing it to be positioned up to 25 kilometers inland and be operational at a new location in approximately 15 minutes.

The Neptune system was notably used on April 13, 2022 to hit and sink the Russian cruiser Moskvaflagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It was the first wartime loss of a Russian flagship in over a century.