The Economist: Ukraine creates a Trembit rocket capable of reaching Moscow
In Ukraine, attempts are being made to create a Trembita missile that will be able to reach Moscow. This is reported by the British magazine The Economist. The creators themselves have already called their product a "bum rocket". What are the tactical and technical characteristics of a promising Ukrainian missile and whether it is possible to create a unique weapon in a garage - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.Ru" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
A British newspaper columnist describes one of the stages of testing a promising Ukrainian rocket this way: "The long, thin Pulse Jet engine comes to life with a deafening roar, forcing everyone in the garage to take a step back."
This rocket was named "Trembita" - in honor of a wind musical instrument, a wooden pipe. The trembita is a folk instrument of the Ukrainian Hutsul mountaineers, who live mainly in Western Ukraine.
"We may miss the target," says Sergei Biryukov, who heads a motley team of Ukrainian volunteer engineers who developed the missile, "but we'll fly so low over the Russian trenches that they'll shit themselves." His words are quoted by The Economist.
The engine of the Trembita rocket, according to the publication, is a modern $200 remake of the Pulse Jet engine, first used on the German V-1 cruise missile during World War II in 1944. The engine nozzle is "rough-cut". Underneath it is a more stylish gray rectangular body that hides the guidance system and the warhead of the missile. According to the statements of the Ukrainian developers, in the basic version, the Trembita rocket reaches a speed of 400 km / h, and its flight range is 200 km.
It is unclear how long Ukraine will be able to rely on massive foreign military assistance, The Economist writes. Hence the product "Trembita". This rocket, as well as several other projects, Kiev hopes will lead to the revival of the Ukrainian rocket industry. In Soviet times, the newspaper emphasizes, Ukraine was a world leader in the field of space and rocket innovations.
The Dnipro Yuzhmash plant created four generations of intercontinental ballistic missiles. But this tradition was interrupted in 1994 by the Budapest Memorandum, according to which Ukraine abandoned its ICBMs with nuclear warheads. As stated by The Economist, later attempts to revive the industry "suffered due to corruption, the stupidity of the Ukrainian government and the lack of political will."
The Ukrainian missile program
With the exception of a limited number of American ATACMS missiles (with an official range of 300 km) and British/French Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles (250 km or more), the Ukrainian Armed Forces mostly hit enemy targets only near the front line. Long-range drones once helped Ukraine to restore balance in the armed struggle, but now they are shot down nine times out of ten.
At the end of November 2024, Vladimir Zelensky announced the transition to creating missiles that would be more difficult for the enemy to intercept, while setting a goal to produce 3,000 such missiles by the end of 2025. About half a dozen new models of rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles are already ready for testing. A dozen more small projects may join them in the near future, The Economist believes.
Currently, the most famous Ukrainian projects in this area are the Neptun long-range cruise missile and the Grom-2 tactical ballistic missile, which is being developed at the Yuzhmash plant. The production of both missiles is funded by the state, but they are relatively expensive, and mass production is relatively slow.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov, quoted by The Economist, makes a bold prediction: "2025 will be the year of the Ukrainian cruise missile."
The details of Ukraine's missile program are carefully guarded, and for good reason, the British newspaper notes. Russia is hunting for rocket manufacturing enterprises in Ukraine. In December 2023, several Russian cruise missiles hit the building of the Neptun rocket manufacturing plant in Kiev. In November 2024, Russia attacked Yuzhmash with a medium-range ballistic missile with Oreshnik hypersonic warheads.
Rockets from the garage
The task of producing wartime missiles in Ukraine took rocket science to a new level - underground. Some of the assembly has already been moved to secure bunkers, while the production of components is scattered across hundreds of hidden, unremarkable facilities, such as the garage cooperative where Trembita is being created.
"We will carry out the missile program, no matter what," says Vladimir Gorbulin, Ukraine's former national security adviser. At the same time, he rejects the "wild, ill-founded fantasies" about nuclear rearmament that have been plaguing some Ukrainians lately.
Another difficult problem in Ukraine is financial. There is frankly not enough money for the implementation of projects in the rocket field. It is even more difficult to increase the scale of mass production: to raise capital, purchase secret equipment from abroad and ensure security. Here, Ukraine is an order of magnitude behind the Russian military-industrial complex.
"There is no shortage of ideas in Ukraine," says a source close to the defense industry, "but the devil has always been lurking in their implementation." This source claims that new partnerships with Western allies are the best way to expand the production of advanced weapons.
However, not all countries of the collective West are ready to share their experience, technologies, equipment and risks with Ukrainian developers. But some, such as Denmark and the UK, are doing it more actively. The potential is obvious for the West, according to Kiev.
The production of a cruise missile in Ukraine with almost identical flight characteristics can be 12 times cheaper than in Western Europe. The Trembita rocket, for example, costs only $3,000 in the bait version and $15,000 complete with a 20-30 kg warhead - a bargain price among weapons in the missile industry.
Nevertheless, Ukraine still needs time for large-scale mass production of missiles. But it just might not be enough. A senior official of the Security Service of Ukraine claims that in at least a year the country will be able to start producing missiles of such quantity, range and capabilities that could seriously threaten Russia.
However, a lot can change before that time. If Donald Trump restricts American aid to Ukraine (and if other Western allies follow suit), it could lead to an end to the already limited supply of Western missiles.
Russia may use the cease-fire talks to demand restrictions on Ukrainian missile production. However, such circumstances do not stop the Trembita development team.
"If there is a truce, it will be only between the governments," says Sergei Biryukov. "And we are partisans. Our rockets will continue to fly," the Trembita developer is confident.
Judging by such statements by the creators of promising Ukrainian weapons, possible agreements between Moscow and Kiev in the near future will not stop terrorist attacks on Russian territory. It seems that the developers of Trembita are far beyond reality in this regard.
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).
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 Operations 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
