Romania, following the example of other European countries, plans to develop weapons in cooperation with Ukraine, with a particular focus on the R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles.
In April 2023, it was announced that the Ukrainian defense industry is working on modernizing the R-360, although the final results of these efforts are still unknown.
Romania aims to have Ukraine as an ally for controlling the Black Sea waters from its own territory. The plans for Romanian-Ukrainian military-industrial partnership are focused on the post-war period, according to the publication.
Unlike the French SCALP-EG missiles, which are air-launched, the Neptune missiles are ground-launched and can target both land and sea objectives at distances of up to 400 km. This gives them a strategic role in the conflict. The missiles have been used since the beginning of the war, including in the destruction of the Russian cruiser Moskva in 2022. They potentially pose a challenge to the American ATACMS, the only weapon with a similar range used by Ukraine.
Bucharest hopes that part of the Black Sea coast will remain under Ukrainian control.
On April 13, 2022, in the third month of the full-scale invasion, the Russian Black Sea Fleet suffered its first significant losses. Ukrainian forces struck the Russian cruiser Moskva with Neptune missiles, causing severe damage. The cruiser may have had up to 500 personnel onboard, but Russia acknowledged only 17 fatalities.
In May of this year, the General Staff reported that a strike group from the Ukrainian Navy hit a ferry crossing and an oil terminal at the port of Kavkaz in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai using Neptune missiles.
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