Ukraine continues to make significant progress in the development of its own missile technologies, approaching the creation of a missile with a range of about 700 kilometers, and is also actively working on an anti-aircraft missile complex with a range of 100 km. This was stated by Volodymyr Horbulin, the first vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences and the former Secretary of the National Security Council, and Valentyn Badrak, Director of the Army, Conversion and Disarmament Research Center, in a long article for LIGA.net.
In their statement, they recalled that in April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced the launch of new models of missiles into serial production. A month before that, Russian sources reported on the “deep modernization” of the Ukrainian anti-ship missile “Neptun”, indicating a possible increase in its range from 280 km to 400 km.
Also important moments were President Zelenskyi’s announcement on August 24 about the first combat use of the new Palanytsia drone missile on Independence Day, and already on August 27 he announced the successful test of the first Ukrainian ballistic missile.
In November 2023, a representative of the General Staff confirmed that the operational-tactical complex “Grim-2” (“Sapsan”) continues to improve, and hinted at its influence on Russian forces. The development of this complex was revived by the Ministry of Defense in 2022.
In August 2024, the Minister of Digital Transformation reported that one Palyanitsa missile drone costs less than $1 million, and in September it became known that Lithuania allocated more than $11 million for the purchase of such drones. The Minister of Strategic Industry stated that the main task now is to scale the production of “Palyanytsia”.
Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov announced that Ukraine has developed a missile program, and its partners have already given verbal consent to finance it. According to him, written commitments are expected in the near future. By the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025, there will be more information about Ukraine’s large-scale missile program, which will be a new stage in strengthening the state’s defense capabilities.
