The Minister of Defense of Ukraine spoke about modernization and the production of domestic R-360 missiles «Neptune», their number and development «Palyanytsia».
The message of Rustem Umerov in Facebook was dedicated to his meeting with Ukrainian missile manufacturers. Together, they discussed the development of the industry, areas of cooperation between enterprises and the state, and plans for 2025.
The defense minister recalled that it was the «Neptune» missiles that destroyed the Russian cruiser «Moscow» in April 2022. He confirmed President Zelenskyy’s earlier statement about 100 Ukrainian missiles and specified that it was «Neptune»:
«Today we are ramping up production of Ukrainian missiles. The first 100 missiles have already been manufactured this year. We have successfully scaled up mass production of R-360 «Neptune cruise missiles» with improvements to hit targets at longer distances».
Rustem Umerov also mentioned other Ukrainian products — drone missiles «Palyanytsia». The Minister said that they have become an example of successful cooperation between the state and private business. Ukraine is also working «in this direction» with international partners.
In September «Ukrinform» reported that the modernized «Neptunes» have been used against land targets for a year now — initially it was an anti-ship missile. It was reported that it was about range 400 km and on the modernization of missiles for a range of 1000 km.
About the jet drone «Palyanytsia», also called a cruise missile, known is not much. Official data on the presence of the missile and its appearance were made public in August in video platform United 24. The list of missile targets suggests that the range of the missile reaches 600-700 km, a distance confirmed by Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Office.
It is known that «Palyanytsia» is relatively inexpensive — it costs less than $1 million. Defense Express editor-in-chief Oleh Katkov in an interview «Suspilne Krym» estimated its possible speed at 400-500 km/h to 950 km/h, depending on the type of engine.