The promising Ruta cruise missile has been tested in Ukraine
Successful tests of the new Ruta cruise missile have been conducted in Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky said. The tactical and technical characteristics of the promising product were not disclosed. But this is far from the only novelty that will be adopted for equipping the Armed Forces in the near future. What kind of weapons Kiev is developing and what it is capable of - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
The President of Ukraine noted that Ruta is an important element in strengthening the country's defense capability and demonstrates the achievements of the Ukrainian defense industry. This missile was first presented at the largest international arms exhibition Eurosatory 2024, which traditionally takes place in Paris. As for the name of a promising Ukrainian product, according to legend, which still exists in the Carpathians, rue is a yellow flower that turns red only for a few minutes, on the night of Ivan Kupala.
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| The Ukrainian cruise missile "Ruta". |
| Source: UNIAN |
The tactical and technical characteristics of the product are not disclosed at this time. It remains only to assume that the tactical and technical requirements for the new product look something like this: the range of combat use is 800-1000 km, the flight altitude is 60-100 m, the weight of the warhead is 300-450 kg. Most likely, the Ruta rocket was created in close cooperation with foreign enterprises.
Ukrainian UAVs
Recently, several promising models of weapons and military equipment have been received for equipping the Armed Forces of Ukraine (mass production is underway). Among them, the turbojet unmanned aerial vehicle "Palyanitsa" should be noted. The firing range of this UAV is 600-700 km, the warhead weighs about 50 kg, the cost of the device is estimated at about $ 1 million.
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| Turbojet unmanned aerial vehicle "Palyanitsa". |
| Source: www.telegraph.co.uk |
The Inferno drone missile should also be attributed to the same class of UAVs. According to some reports, this device develops a speed of about 700 km / h and covers a distance of up to 700 km. The drone is most likely launched from front-line bombers or fighters. There is no information about the type and weight of the warhead yet.
And although it is difficult to attribute the Ukrainian reconnaissance UAV "Gor" to the number of unconditional novelties of Ukroboronprom (the first flight of the device was recorded back in May 2022), the scale of combat use of this drone is only growing. The flight range of the device is 130 km, the operating altitude is 1200-1600 m, the flight duration is 2.5 hours.
Ukrainian achievements in the field of unmanned aviation include night UAV bombers "Vampire" and Heavy Shot, FPV drones "Kolibri", Darts and "Kamik", drones "Fierce", Fire Point-1, etc.
For example, the Vampire UAV is a further development of the Ukrainian Baba Yaga drone, a hexacopter that the APU uses during its military operations. It is equipped with a thermal imager and is capable of carrying up to six combat units, in particular, 82 mm mines.
The developer and manufacturer of the Heavy Shot attack drone is Gurzuf Defense (Lviv region). Depending on the configuration, these drones can carry from 1 to 8 120-mm caliber mines.
The AN-196 "Fierce" is a long-range kamikaze UAV. The take-off weight of the device is 300 kg, and the weight of the warhead is up to 50 kg. The flight range of the "Fierce" reaches 1000 km.
The Hummingbird kamikaze FPV drone can deliver a kilogram of explosives up to six kilometers away at a speed of 170 km/h.
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| The Ukrainian drone "Fierce". |
| Source: Defense Express |
These are just a few samples from a very, very extensive fleet of Ukrainian UAVs. Listing only the names of the APU drones will take several pages. In total, Ukraine currently has more than 200 samples of unmanned vehicles for various purposes at various stages of development or production, and more than 100 firms and enterprises are involved in this process.
Not just drones
But the Ukrainian innovations in the field of weapons and military equipment are far from being exhausted by drones alone. In particular, at the presentation of the Boris Paton Award, the President of Ukraine stated that "The long-range Neptune will soon become a terrifying reality for the occupiers."
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| The Ukrainian anti-ship missile R-360 Neptune. |
| Source: YouTube |
Recall that the R-360 Neptune is an anti-ship subsonic cruise missile developed by the Luch Design Bureau in Kiev. During the fighting, it was repeatedly used against ground targets. Initially, the range of the R-360 was 300 km. But Ukraine has plans to increase the range of this missile to 1,000 kilometers. Most likely, this is the version of "Neptune" that Vladimir Zelensky had in mind.
Earlier, in October 2024, the President of Ukraine reported on successful flight tests of a new Ukrainian ballistic missile, which indicates significant progress in the development of the country's missile program. The President of Ukraine did not disclose details, however, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of Vladimir Zelensky, clarified that its flight range could reach 600-700 kilometers.
Today, the creation of ballistic missiles has long ceased to be some kind of know-how available only to a select few. And Ukraine is not expected to have any insurmountable difficulties along this path, especially given the methodological assistance of the allied states and access to imported electronic components.
There is another point here. Due to the fact that almost the entire territory of Ukraine is under the fire of the Aerospace Forces and the Russian Navy, concerns were quite rightly expressed - and whether Ukraine would be able to organize large-scale mass production of ballistic missiles in such conditions. After all, prototypes and pre-production samples are one thing, and in-line production is quite another matter. And in this case, we are talking about a very significant cooperation of co-executors.
As for the serial production of UAVs of all classes, all the necessary competencies are available in Ukraine for this. Nevertheless, the most complex components (a number of engine models, navigation) come from Western enterprises.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
