Neptune: Anti-ship Cruise Missile | 15 Apr 2022

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.

Source: IE