Inna Andalitskaya 18:29, 03.10.25 UNIAN
Tomahawk missiles are expensive to produce, costing millions of dollars. And even if they are provided to Ukraine, they will be in small quantities
If the US decides to transfer Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, there will be few of them. Instead, they can offer Barracuda missiles . After all, the US military capabilities allow producing many missiles of this type – they are inexpensive, and besides, they are suitable for launch even from AN-26 transport aircraft. This was said by the editor-in-chief of the Defense Express publication Oleg Katkov on the air of Kyiv24 .
Commenting on the information about the possibility of providing Ukraine with Barracuda and Tomahawk missiles, he noted that it is the cheap Barracuda missiles that are intended for mass production.
“There won’t be many Tomahawk missiles. We’re talking about a fairly small number, given how many of them can be produced and sold under the PURL mechanism, and how many can be bought. For European customers, for example, the Netherlands, the US has set a price of $12.5 million for one Tomahawk missile. But for their potential allies against China, for example, Japan, the price is half that,” Katkov noted.
According to his assumption, the real price of the Tomahawk is $5-6 million per missile, but the price varies in different export contracts.
According to the expert, for Ukraine, the US is betting on Barracuda missiles precisely because they can produce a lot of them.
“Anduril Industries, which developed the Barracuda, declares that by the end of 2026, if ordered, it can produce 3,000 such missiles per year. This is an order of magnitude more than the US can produce Tomahawk. After all, the US will not physically be able to produce three thousand Tomahawk missiles per year,” Katkov said.
He did not name the exact cost of the Barracuda missiles. However, he noted that competitors Anduril Industries charge $150,000 for a missile similar to the Barracuda-500.
It is also important, the expert noted, that the Barracuda has a high speed – 900 km/h and, accordingly, it is difficult to resist it. Like drones, it is practically impossible to shoot it down with a machine gun. This requires exclusively anti-aircraft missile and cannon anti-aircraft complexes.
In addition, Barracuda can be launched from ground installations and from the air.
“Just a week ago, Anduril announced that it had adapted the Barracuda for a ground-based launcher. The installation is quite miniature. But there are even more interesting options that allow it to be launched from a conventional military transport aircraft. These missiles are placed on special pallets with a parachute and thrown from the ramp. And when the parachute opens, the missiles launch directly from the pallet. If a mass launch is needed, they can even be dropped from an AN-26,” Katkov emphasized.
However, there are few Tomahawk launchers. He said they are launched from universal launch “cells” on ships or from trucks.
There are also experimental launchers – for the Marine Corps on a special platform. The Marine Corps ordered more than 50 such launchers, and over the past year received up to 8 pieces. But refused them. And now, according to Katkov, the US has up to 10 such launchers for Tomahawk. Although he doubts that they will be given to Ukraine in finished form.
“The transfer of Tomahawks is based on their price and the fact that Europe is not a priority for the US at the moment. Therefore, the prices for weapons are very different. For example, for Norway, the prices for HIMARS were twice as high as for Australia,” Katkov emphasized.
Tomahawk for Ukraine – latest news
As UNIAN reported, the administration of US President Donald Trump said that they are considering the possibility of transferring Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine . However, the final decision on this has not been made, it must be made directly by President Trump.
Information was circulating in the media that the US was considering transferring another version of long-range weapons to Ukraine – Barracuda “missile drones” from the Anduril company.
It was noted that the Barracuda exists in three versions : Barracuda-100, Barracuda-250 and Barracuda-500. They differ greatly in size and range. Given the characteristics, for strikes on targets deep in Russia, only the Barracuda-500 seems to be effective, as it has a range of over 900 km (when launched from the air) and the largest warhead is 45 kg.
The Barracuda can still hit Moscow and for 10% of the cost.
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