Romania plans to jointly develop Neptune missiles with Ukraine: what is known

Romania, together with Ukraine, plans to develop long-range missile weapons. The countries want to pay special attention to the R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles.

The plans for the Romanian-Ukrainian military-industrial partnership are foreseen for the postwar period. This was reported by the Army Recognition portal.

In April 2023, it became known that the Ukrainian defense industry is working on modernizing the R-360 Neptune missile, although the final results of these efforts remain uncertain. Bucharest is interested in such weapons, as it seeks to work with Ukraine as an ally to control the Black Sea waters from its territory. Despite the advancement of Russian occupation forces on the front, Bucharest hopes that at least part of the Black Sea coast will remain under Kyiv's control.

It should be noted that joint work on missile weapons is planned for the postwar period. Unlike French SCALP-EG missiles or British Storm Shadow missiles launched from the air, R-360 Neptune missiles are launched from the ground and can hit both land and sea targets with a range of up to 400 kilometers.

Such tactical and technical characteristics give these missiles a strategic role in the conflict. In particular, Neptune missiles were used to destroy the Russian cruiser Moscow in 2022. They could potentially compete with the US ATACMS, the only other weapon with a similar range used in Ukraine.

The R-360 Neptune missile was first presented at the International Arms and Security Exhibition in Kyiv in 2015 and entered service with the Ukrainian Navy in 2021. Weighing 870 kg and 5.05 meters long, the Neptune missile is designed to engage warships with a displacement of up to 9,000 tons. It has a range of more than 200 kilometers and can engage sea and land targets in a land attack version. The missile is equipped with a Motor Sich MS400 turbofan engine and improved guidance and electronics systems compared to its Soviet predecessor, the X-35.

The Neptune missile system includes mobile launchers, transport and handling vehicles, control vehicles, and special transport trucks. The system is designed to operate at a distance of up to 25 kilometers from the coast. During operational tests and combat scenarios, Neptune demonstrated its effectiveness, in particular, in an attack on the Russian cruiser Moskva. Ukraine is currently working on increasing the range of the missile to 1,000 kilometers and scaling up production.

As a reminder, on the night of June 17-18, the Ukrainian Defense Forces attacked Russian oil depots in the Rostov Region and Krasnodar Territory of Russia with domestically produced Neptune missiles. The facilities are located within the range of the American ATACMS missile defense systems, but the United States prohibits their use on the territory of the aggressor state.

Earlier it was reported that Ukrainian soldiers hit the ship "Kostiantyn Olshanskyi", which was appropriated by Russians during the illegal annexation of Crimea. The attack was carried out by a Neptune cruise missile.

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