Ukraine has improved "Neptune": as the "long hand" of the Armed Forces evolved
The focus analyzed how Neptune has changed and what is now capable of winged missiles. As of the beginning of a full-scale war, there was only one Neptune complex in Ukraine, which was to be entered into the Navy. The development of the complex began in 2014. Only 6 years have passed by the time of adoption. The winged anti -ship rocket (PKR) is intended for the destruction of ships up to 5,000 tons.
Visually, it looks like a typical PKR in its class: American Haproon, French Exochet, British Sea Eagle or Russian/Soviet X-35. The CEO and General Designer of SCKB "Luch" Oleg Korostelov stated that all such missiles are built on one principle: in front of the wing, and behind the helm. The difference is only in the "internal filling". It is the DKKB "Luch" and responsible for the development and production of "Neptune". The range of lesions of the anti -ship "Neptune" is 280 km.
The weight of the battle part is 150 kg, and the speed of flight up to 900 km/h. The rocket flies low above the water to complicate the detection of enemy air defense. During the full -scale war, Neptune was sneed or shot: the media also wrote that at the beginning of a full -scale war, they found a sabotage that led to the failure of PCR "Neptune". The test found out that all the missiles had the same problem - the way out of one detail. The rockets did not detonate as they would have.
However, after eliminating the problem of "Neptune" began to beat as it should. After the first successful lesions for a long time, there was no information in the media for a long time about the use of Neptune's anti -ship missiles until the summer of 2023. Ukraine first struck the temporarily occupied Crimea. Later it became known that Neptune hit the C-400 complex. It became clear that in Ukraine there was a rocket with a distance of more than 300 km for striking for land purposes.
The lesion took place on Independence Day in 2023. The rockets have destroyed not only two components of the enemy SCRC C-400, but also successfully struck the Radar Podlet in the Cape Tarhankut area. Neptune was programmed to a route that allowed the Russian detection systems. The ammunition flew to the target at a little height. Within a week, the American edition of The War Zone reported that Ukraine has modernized Neptuna for blows on the ground.
Under the ammunition, they developed a GPS guide system and created an infrared head of homing to find and fix the goals. In memory of rockets load images of targets and on a terminal shade of flight it verifies what she sees with an image. This can achieve high accuracy. The sources of the publication with which the journalists spoke said that the upgraded Neptune has a range of up to 400 km and a useful load of about 350 kg.
That is, more than twice as much as it was in the basic version of the rocket. The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence Kirill Budanov stated that the number of missiles was a key problem as of September 2023. It is difficult for Ukraine to increase production due to the likelihood of plants damage by Russian rockets. In December, Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan Havrylyuk said that in Ukraine they are working on the development of a long -range version of the Neptune missile.
"The work is underway to create the so-called long" Neptune ". It is a new modification of the missile for the Neptune complex,-said Gavriluk. On March 26, a spokesman for the Naval Forces of Ukraine Dmitry Pletenchuk said that Neptune was attacked by a large landing ship" Konstantin Olshansky "In Crimea. The ship lost its combat capability after a rocket strike.
" Konstantin Olshansky "is a Ukrainian VDC, which the invaders were captured in 2014 during the occupation For Minsk or Olenagorsky Gornyak, which was previously successfully attacked by Ukraine with drones or Western missiles. "This ship had to be used against Ukraine. Therefore, a decision was made to defeat this unit by our "Neptune", - said Dmitry Pletenchuk. Defense Express experts point out that Neptune was deeply upgraded, he was able to hit such a target at a considerable distance once.
A large landing ship was located in the Bay of Sevastopol. The official range of "Neptune" is 280 km, but it would not be enough to blow on "Konstantin Olshansky". During the flight, the rocket had to be maneuver not to get into the Russian air defense area. For the attacks of surface goals, the requirements for the guidance system are less than the ground.
"Neptune" not only had to bypass the enemy air defense and the means of radio electronic wrestling, but also to attack the right ship, because there were other ships in the bay. The ammunition had to distinguish small ships from others. In addition, the blow to Sevastopol was combined. It was important to attack different goals at the same time, which requires high coordination. Therefore, experts come to the conclusion that Neptune is significantly evolving and developing for enemy strikes.