Barracuda missiles, which the United States can transfer to the Armed Forces, are capable of hitting Moscow
Relatively cheap modular cruise missiles of the Barracuda family, which the United States can supply to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), can strike Russian cities such as Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Moscow and Saratov, follows from a map published by the Telegram channel "Military Chronicle".
The publication noted that the strategic missile carrier base in Engels could be hit.
The publication notes that "in the longest-range version, the missile is capable of disabling a warehouse, communications center, or power grid facility, but not destroying a major infrastructure target." "The effect of such strikes directly depends on the number and regularity of their use," the Telegram channel notes.
The military chronicle admits that Barracuda is unlikely to become a "superweapon," and the effectiveness of missiles depends on how much the development company has managed to scale and reduce the cost of their production. At the same time, the Telegram channel notes in another publication, the launch of Barracuda will not require special platforms, which makes them doubly dangerous even in the "weakest" configuration.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal newspaper, citing sources, reported that Washington could supply Kiev with Tomahawk and Barracuda missiles.
In September 2024, the American defense company Anduril introduced the Barracuda cruise missiles, which, according to TWZ, can revolutionize armaments due to their modular design, ease of production and relative cheapness.
The Pentagon contractor described the Barracuda family as highly accurate "expendable autonomous aircraft" capable of launching from helicopters and airplanes, as well as offshore and land-based platforms. The family consists of three missiles: Barracuda-100, Barracuda-250 and Barracuda-500. A modification of the Barracuda-M is available for each of them. Missile targets can be located both on land and at sea, and can be both static and mobile.
Each Barracuda has a pair of retractable wings in the central part of the body, and two folding stabilizers at the rear. The rocket is powered by an air-jet engine with an air intake recessed into the body. In the basic part of the rocket, the families have common sets of subsystems, while otherwise they can be easily customized for a specific task using components widely available on the commercial market.
The lowest—powered rocket, the Barracuda-100, is capable of carrying a warhead weighing 15 kilograms and has a range of up to 157 kilometers (subject to an air launch). Referring to the images published by Anduril, TWZ admitted that the Barracuda-100 can be launched from the same installations as the AGM-114 and AGM-179 missiles. The publication does not exclude that the new rocket in the nose is equipped with an electro-optical, infrared and (or) laser homing head.
With a warhead mass comparable to the Barracuda-100, the Barracuda-250 missile has a significantly longer range of up to 370 kilometers. Due to its small dimensions, the rocket can be placed in the interior compartment of the fifth-generation F-35 fighter. Anduril claims that the Barracuda-250 can be launched from land-based or sea-based Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The mass of the Barracuda-500 warhead is up to 45 kilograms, and the range is up to 926 kilometers. This variant of the Barracuda family is designed for aerial launch, including from pallets.
