Important Facts For Prelims
Neptune: Anti-ship Cruise Missile
- 15 Apr 2022
- 3 min read
Why in News?
Recently, Ukraine claimed that it has damaged the Russian Black Sea Fleet Flagship ‘Moskva’ by Neptune Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles.
What is Neptune?
- The Neptune is a coastal anti-ship cruise missile that is capable of the destruction of naval vessels in a range of 300 km.
- The Missile system was inducted into the Ukrainian Defence Forces in March 2021 after being in development for six years.
- The cruise missile was developed in haste by the military as the Russian threat to the coastal areas of Ukraine was growing rapidly since the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
- The design of this missile is based on a Russian Kh-35 cruise missile which goes by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) name of AS-20 Kayak.
- The cruise missile attack was carried out using TB-2 drones as decoys along with other measures toward saturation of the cruiser’s Air Defence systems.
What is Moskva?
- Moskva is a guided missile cruiser of the Russian Navy named after the city of Moscow.
- A cruiser is a large surface warship built for high speed and great cruising radius, capable of not only defending its own fleet and coastlines but also threatening those of the enemy.
- The Moskva was originally commissioned as the Slava in 1983.
- It was recommissioned in 2000 as the Moskva with refurbished weapon systems and electronics.
- It has a displacement of 12,490 tons.
- It is the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy and carries a crew of around 500 personnel.
UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)
Q. What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)”, sometimes seen in the news? (2018)
(a) An Israeli radar system
(b) India’s indigenous anti-missile programme
(c) An American anti-missile system
(d) A defence collaboration between Japan and South Korea.
Ans: (c)
- Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) is an American anti-missile system designed to intercept and destroy short and medium-range ballistic missiles during their “terminal” phase of flight when they are falling towards the target.
