Historic moment: Ukrainian Neptunes attack targets in Russia
This fact indicates a significant upgrade in the capabilities of this domestic missile
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that on the night of May 31, 2024, the Ukrainian Defense Forces launched a missile attack on an oil depot in the Krasnodar Territory of Russia and the ferry crossing of the Kavkaz port, located opposite the Kerch Peninsula.
It is noted that it was the oil terminal near the Kavkaz port that was struck by several domestically produced Neptune missiles. “The results of objective control confirm the explosions at the targeting locations. The accuracy of target destruction is being investigated,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized.
Defense Express emphasizes several points at once. First, we have a literally historic event here, because this is the first time domestic missile weapons have been used to strike targets in Russia.
Secondly, the historicity lies in the fact that the very fact that the terminal was struck near the Russian port of Kavkaz indicates a significant modernization of the Neptune, which could include an increase in the launch range, a warhead weight, and an improvement in the guidance system.
If measured in a straight line, then, for example, if launched from the Zaporizhzhia area, the range of our Neptunes to the Kavkaz port area could be at least 300 kilometers. However, it should be noted that the missiles could have flown to the target along a complex trajectory in order to “confuse” the Nazi air defense system. Because of this, the actual launch range could have been greater than this minimum of 300 kilometers.
As we may recall, the R-360 Neptune in its basic anti-ship version had a warhead of 150 kilograms. And when the first hints were made in the Western media that Ukraine might be working on improving Neptune, they specifically stated that it intended to increase the weight of the warhead to 300 kilograms.
And besides, we should note that the lion’s share of the Neptunes’ likely route to the Kavkaz port area was supposed to be over land. To enable missiles to fly in such conditions, the guidance system had to be significantly improved, although the parameters of the improvement remain unknown.
