(Dan Tri) – Video shows the body of a Ukrainian R-360 Neptune (`Water God`) missile drifting to Russia’s Sea of Azov in a nearly intact state, giving Moscow’s military the opportunity to `dissect`.
The remains of Ukraine’s R-360 Neptune missile are said to have washed ashore in the Russian port city of Taganrog (Photo: X/Telegram).
Video shared online on January 29 shows an R-360 missile washing up on a beach believed to be near the Russian port city of Taganrog.
Warhistoryalconafter – a Russian-language Telegram channel about historical war weapons and apparently the first to post the video – said the R-360 missile mentioned above was shot down by Russian air defense forces.
Ukraine once announced that it would use Neptune missiles to sink the Russian flagship Moskva in 2022, while Moscow said the ship sank because of fire.
In August 2023, at least one ground attack version of the Neptune missile was used to destroy the Russian S-400 system on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia announced its annexation in 2014.
Ukraine’s R-360 is derived from the Soviet-era Kh-35 missile and the two types have a very similar appearance.
The main fin of the missile in the video has a slight bend, a characteristic of the R-360 missile (Photo: X/Telegram).
The Russian Kh-35 missile or model shows a straight main fin, different from the main fin of the Ukrainian R-360 missile (Photo: Pliskin/Wikimedia).
In the past, the anti-ship version of Neptune had a maximum range of about 300km.
The 360km range would certainly put Taganrog and much of the surrounding Rostov region within range of Ukrainian forces stationed in the far east of the country.
The basic anti-ship version of the Neptune uses an inertial navigation system (INS) to bring the missile to the target area, then it switches to an active radar seeker to focus on the target in
The ground attack version of the Neptune is said to use a combination of GPS-assisted INS and infrared imaging sensors to hit targets.
Video of the Neptune missile wreckage near Taganrog emerged amid concerns about Ukraine’s ammunition stockpile.
According to War Zone, no matter what caused the Neptune in the video to fall, the missile body washed ashore on Taganrog could provide Russian forces with a lot of new information about the capabilities of this weapon.