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Romania, following the example of other European countries, plans to develop weapons in cooperation with Ukraine, in particular, focusing on R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles. Ihor Prokopchuk emphasized the importance of cooperation between Bucharest and Kyiv in the defense sphere, as well as in energy, after his visit to Romania. In April 2023, it became known that the Ukrainian defense industry is working on the modernization of the P-360, although the final results of these efforts remain uncertain.
Romania seeks to have Ukraine as an ally to control the waters of the Black Sea from its territory. Plans for the Romanian-Ukrainian military-industrial partnership are foreseen for the post-war period.
Unlike the French SCALP-EG missiles, which are launched from the air, the Neptune missiles are launched from the ground and can target both land and sea targets with a range of up to 400 kilometers. This ability gives them a strategic role in war. These missiles have been used since the beginning of the conflict, in particular to shoot down the Russian cruiser "Moskva" in 2022. They could potentially compete with the US ATACMS, the only other weapon of similar range used by Kyiv.
R-360 Neptune is a subsonic cruise missile developed by the Ukrainian enterprise KB Luch.
It was first presented at the international exhibition "Armament and Security" in Kyiv in 2015 and entered service with the Navy of Ukraine in 2021. The Neptune missile weighing 870 kg and 5,05 meters in length is designed to attack Navy ships with a displacement of up to 9000 tons. It has a range of more than 200 kilometers and can hit sea and land targets in an upgraded version. The missile is equipped with a Motor Sich MS400 turbofan engine and improved guidance systems and electronics compared to its Soviet predecessor, the X-35.
The Neptune missile complex includes mobile launchers, transport and handling vehicles, command and control vehicles and special transport trucks. The system is designed to work at a distance of up to 25 kilometers from the coast. In combat tests and combat scenarios, the Neptune has demonstrated its effectiveness, in particular during the attack on the Russian cruiser Moskva in 2022. Now Ukraine is working on increasing the missile's range to 1000 kilometers and increasing production.
