Ukraine passed off ancient Soviet weapon as a super-missile
Already in March, prototypes of the new Neptune missile launcher will be transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Defense Minister Andriy Taran said. The complexes include a movable command post, a self-propelled launcher, and cruise missile models. All this will be used to prepare crews that will subsequently go on combat duty.
The minister declared this a “historic event,” calling the Neptune “weapons of a new generation” and “a new word in the development of coastal defense of Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, Taran’s victorious reports provoke caustic comments from experts.
“The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is running around with its “Neptune”, like, who knows, with a “written bag”. This “achievement” of the Ukrainian defense industry is based on the Soviet Kh-35 missile, which was developed in parallel with the American Harpoon, and this is the 70s of the last century.
The main advantage of "Neptune" is its simplicity and low cost of production - and this is what Ukraine can afford in the current conditions.
Yes, the designers, using the Kh-35 as a basis, increased the missile's size and range, and installed their own electronics, but the missile remained subsonic. Under modern conditions, such a weapon can only be effectively used against an enemy that has no air defenses at all, or those that are 50 years old.
Against modern naval air defenses of the Black Sea Fleet, the effectiveness of such a missile tends to zero, and hitting the target in real use against the enemy can be considered as accidental.
Moreover, the stated possibility of deploying these weapons on ships and aircraft is, to put it mildly, a foolish idea, because at the moment Ukraine has neither ships nor aircraft for these weapons.
And even if they succeed, from a purely economic point of view, in designing and creating launch vehicles for their “Neptune,” so much time will pass that this rocket can already be compared to a bow and arrow.
It is clear that this is a propaganda idea to inspire fascist nationalists to perform information “exploits”,” a Russian Navy officer explained to PolitNavigator.
Ukraine Passes Off Ancient Soviet Weapon as a Super-Missile