Missile R-360 Neptune

The R-360 Neptune is a Ukrainian subsonic cruise missile family, originally designed as an anti-ship weapon and later adapted for land attack. Its layout derives from the Soviet Kh-35, with revised propulsion, targeting and electronics. The design was first shown publicly at an arms exhibition in Kyiv in 2015, with initial flight articles built in 2016 and the first test firings conducted in March of that year. Successful flight tests were reported in January 2018, followed by target engagements over the Black Sea near Odesa in August 2018 and April 2019. The first training missile battalion of the RK-360MC coastal defence system entered service with the Ukrainian Navy in March 2021.

The missile is launched from a transport-launch container using a solid-fuel booster, which separates after burnout, after which a turbofan sustainer takes over for cruise flight. The airframe uses a cruciform hard wing. A complete coastal defence battery consists of truck-mounted USPU-360 launchers carrying four missiles each, TZM-360 transporter-loader vehicles, an RCP-360 command and control vehicle and support cargo vehicles, all built on Tatra T815-7 chassis after prototypes used KrAZ trucks. Batteries are intended to operate from positions set back from the coastline. The original requirement called for a single missile to disable surface warships and transport vessels of up to 9,000 tonnes displacement, whether sailing independently or in convoy.

The baseline R-360 Neptun carries a conventional high-explosive warhead and can engage both ships and land targets. The R-360L Neptun-D, referred to as "Long Neptune" in Ukrainian usage and Neptune-MD by Russian sources, is a stretched extended-range variant with an enlarged fuselage diameter and increased wing and tail surfaces, a heavier warhead, terrain-following flight and the ability to operate without satellite navigation. An intermediate-range version with external fuselage fairings believed to be conformal fuel tanks was revealed in October 2025.

Ukraine is the sole operator. Ukrainian sources claimed damage to the frigate Admiral Essen on 3 April 2022; the claim was not confirmed. On 13 April 2022 two Neptune missiles were claimed to have struck the cruiser Moskva, causing a fire and detonation of onboard munitions; the ship sank under tow. Land-attack use began in 2023, with strikes on S-400 radar and launcher positions at Cape Tarkhankut and near Yevpatoriya in Crimea. Subsequent claimed engagements include the landing ship Konstantin Olshansky and the salvage vessel Kommuna in 2024, an oil depot at Port Kavkaz, a drone storage and training site in Krasnodar Krai, and an airbase in Kursk Oblast. Long-range strikes continued against industrial and energy targets in Russia, including the Karachev electrical components plant, the Oryol thermal power plant, the Novobryansk substation, a drone plant at Taganrog and the Novoshakhtinsk refinery. Russian forces have intercepted Neptune missiles on several occasions, and in August 2025 an Iskander strike disabled a Neptune launcher located by drone reconnaissance after a failed salvo.