R-360 Neptune
Р-360 «Нептун»
Overview
The R-360 Neptune is a Ukrainian subsonic cruise missile developed by the Luch Design Bureau. It was created as the anti-ship missile of the RK-360MC coastal missile system, adopted in August 2020, and later gained land-attack versions. The baseline missile carries a 150 kg warhead up to 280 km, while the enlarged Long Neptune carries 260 kg up to 1,000 km. In April 2022, according to Ukraine, Neptune missiles hit the cruiser Moskva.
History
The Neptune was developed by the Luch State Kyiv Design Bureau. It was based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile, but with substantially improved range, guidance and electronics. The project was first shown at the Arms and Security exhibition in Kyiv in 2015, the first flight articles were built in the second quarter of 2016, and the first tests took place on 22 March 2016.
The first successful flight test took place on 30 January 2018, and on 17 August 2018 the missile hit a target 100 km away at a range in Odesa Oblast. On 17 June 2020, in the final state trials, two R-360 missiles hit surface targets, and on 23 August 2020 Defence Minister Andrii Taran signed the order adopting the RK-360MC Neptune coastal missile system into service. The first training battalion joined the Ukrainian Navy in March 2021.
Design and specifications
The R-360 is a subsonic cruise missile weighing 870 kg, 5.05 m long and 0.38 m in diameter. It takes off with a solid-fuel booster and cruises on a Motor Sich MS400 turbofan at about 900 km/h. Guidance is inertial, with an active radar seeker in the terminal phase. The anti-ship version carries a 150 kg warhead up to 280 km and is designed to engage ships of up to 5,000 tonnes.
The RK-360MC coastal system consists of the USPU-360 self-propelled launcher with four missiles, the TZM-360 transporter-loader, a transport vehicle and the RKP-360 command post. Production vehicles use Czech Tatra T815-7 truck chassis, which replaced the KrAZ trucks of the prototypes. Missiles are launched 3–5 seconds apart; a battalion of six launchers carries 72 missiles.
Variants
In 2023 a land-attack version of the Neptune with a new guidance system entered service. In October 2025 another variant was shown, with extra fuel tanks on the sides of the fuselage and a range between the baseline missile and the Long Neptune.
Long Neptune
The Long Neptune (R-360L, Neptune-D system) is an enlarged version for long-range strikes on land targets; its development became known in November 2023. On 15 March 2025 President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the missile had passed its tests and been used successfully in combat at a range of 1,000 km. According to media reports, its first known use was a strike on the Tuapse oil refinery on the night of 14 March 2025, about 550 km from the front line.
According to Defense Express, the missile is about 1.5 m longer than the baseline (over 6 m without the booster), its diameter has grown from 38 to about 50 cm, and the wing and tail areas were enlarged to handle the extra weight. At the same time the warhead grew to 260 kg — a rare case where longer range did not mean a smaller warhead. The Ministry of Defence first showed the missile on 24 August 2025, and on 14 November 2025 a video appeared of a new launcher on a Tatra T815-7 8×8 chassis: the old one could not take the larger missile, so it received longer, rectangular transport-launch containers.
Neptune 2
On 16 June 2026 Luch and the European missile maker MBDA signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a next-generation Neptune 2 missile with deep-strike capability.
Combat use
On 13 April 2022, according to Ukraine, two Neptune missiles hit the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship, the missile cruiser Moskva; after a fire and an ammunition explosion, the cruiser sank under tow on 14 April. The missiles were later used against other ships as well, including the landing ship Konstantin Olshansky on 26 March 2024.
Once the land-attack version appeared, the Neptune was used against ground targets: on 23 August 2023 a missile destroyed an S-400 radar at Cape Tarkhankut in Crimea. In 2024, according to open sources, more than 50 Neptune strikes were recorded against targets in occupied territories and in Russia, including oil depots, warehouses and airfields, while the Long Neptune is used against targets up to 1,000 km away.
Production
The missile's designer is the Luch Design Bureau, and production involves a cooperation of Ukrainian enterprises: Motor Sich (MS400 engine), the Vizar plant in Kyiv, Radionix (seeker) and Arsenal (navigation system). On 2 August 2024 Romania and Ukraine announced plans to jointly produce and improve the Neptune. On 18 November 2024 Ukraine reported that 100 missiles had been built since the start of the year and that serial production had been expanded.
Sources
Militarnyi — Підписано наказ про прийняття на озброєння РК-360МЦ «Нептун» (23.08.2020) ↗
Українська правда — На озброєння ЗСУ надійшов береговий ракетний комплекс «Нептун» (23.08.2020) ↗
Radio Svoboda — «Довгий Нептун»: Зеленський заявив про бойове застосування (15.03.2025) ↗
UNIAN — Розкрито параметри ракети «Довгий Нептун» (01.10.2025) ↗
NV — «Довгий Нептун»: Міноборони вперше показало нову ракету дальністю 1000 км (25.08.2025) ↗
24 Kanal — «Довгий Нептун» уразив НПЗ у Туапсе: перше застосування (15.03.2025) ↗
Focus — Нова пускова установка для Р-360Л «Довгий Нептун» (14.11.2025) ↗
MBDA — MBDA to develop NEPTUNE2 cruise missile with LUCH (16.06.2026) ↗