November 16, 2024

The Ukrainian defense industry​ has made significant progress in developing own missile weapons, the main challenge now is to expand their production to adequate quantities

Throughout the almost three years of full-scale war with russia, Ukraine has seen a number of technological shifts, both in the private and state-owned sectors, which ultimately made Ukraine “the technologically strongest country in Europe.” This was the opinion voiced by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in a major interview with national public broadcaster Suspilne Media in honor of the 100th anniversary of Ukrainian Radio.

Among other topics, part of the conversation was about Ukrainian-developed weapons: Zelensky in particular noted the naval drones that destroyed and damaged many ships of the russian Black Sea Fleet, stressed the need for further development of drones and electronic warfare systems, and also stated that Ukraine currently has four types of attack missiles.

“The missile program. The missiles that we have. Four types. But the tests are going on now,” is the quote referring specifically to missile weapons of probably Ukrainian production. Considering this interview was about the achievements of the Ukrainian defense industry after February 2022, it could be assumed that Zelensky was talking about completely new weapons, yet unknown to the public.

But more realistically, one of these missiles is the Neptune, an anti-ship cruise missile that sank the Moskva missile cruiser in April 2022 and later adjusted for strikes on land targets. Although Ukraine never confirmed any strikes inflicted by the land-attack Neptune officially, the Ukrainian Navy has repeatedly hinted that they were using this very weapon to strike various targets, including those inside russia.

Another missile is, most likely the same ballistic missile that had successfully completed tests, as announced by Zelensky earlier this year. The tactical missile’s range is believed to be around 600 to 700 kilometers.

As for the other two missiles, this is where things become vague. Among public statements, we can recall the words said by Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak in October 2023: he claimed that Ukraine had experimental samples of missile weapons with a range of 750–1,000 km; and for a number of reasons, it could not be the Neptune or the mentioned ballistic missile but a completely different one.

That said, we can also cautiously assume that under “missile” category could be falling such products as the old Soviet S-200 modified for strikes against ground targets or even the Palianytsia “rocket drone” (despite the fact it’s actually a jet drone). Equally possible is that Zelenskyi not necessarily meant only long-range missiles but air defense interceptors or other similar weapons.

While the progress in developing new types of prospective long-range attack weapons is substantial, the real enhancement of capabilities also requires adequate production rates. Earlier President Zelenskyi stated that in 2024, Ukraine “passed the mark of the first hundred missile weapons [manufactured] this year.”

https://en.defence-ua.com/news/ukraine_has_two_other_missiles_besides_cruise_neptun_and_the_ballistic_secret_one-12551.html