The short-range weapon is believed to have flown 700km (435 miles) and landed in the East Sea, otherwise known as the Sea of Japan.
Published On 7 Nov 20257 Nov 2025
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North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile towards its eastern waters, the South Korean military has said, just days after United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited South Korea for annual security talks.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed the development on Friday, saying the short-range missile flew 700km (435 miles) towards the East Sea, otherwise known as the Sea of Japan.
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The Japanese government also said North Korea had launched a missile, adding that it is likely to have fallen in waters outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Pyongyang’s latest launch comes four days after South Korea said its neighbour had fired 10 rounds of artillery into its western waters, and about a week after US President Donald Trump gave Seoul permission to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
Experts say the move, which will see South Korea join a small club of countries using such vessels, will greatly enhance its naval and defence capabilities.
South Korea wants to receive enriched uranium from the US to use as fuel for the nuclear-powered submarine, which it plans to build at home, a South Korean presidential official said on Friday.
Since they both took office earlier this year, Trump and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung have sought to restart dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
However, Kim has shunned any talks with Washington and Seoul since previous discussions with the US collapsed in 2019.
North Korea’s leader said in September that he was open to talks provided that the US drop its demand for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. He has repeatedly said his country is an “irreversible” nuclear state.
Last month, Kim attended a major military parade in Pyongyang, along with high-level officials from allied countries, including Russia and China. It showcased some of his nation’s most powerful weapons, including a new intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korean and Russian military officials met in Pyongyang this week to discuss strengthening cooperation, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Friday.
Pak Yong Il, vice director of the Korean People’s Army’s General Political Bureau, met a Russian delegation led by Vice Defence Minister Viktor Goremykin on Wednesday.
KCNA said the allies discussed expanding ties as part of the “deepened bilateral relations” agreed between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, South Korea’s spy agency said it had detected possible recruitment and training activities in North Korea, noting this could signal a potential further deployment of troops to Russia.
So far, Seoul estimates that Pyongyang has sent 15,000 soldiers to Russia to aid it in its war against Ukraine, and large numbers have died on the battlefield there.
On Tuesday, the South Korean National Intelligence Service also said it believes that Kim has dispatched about 5,000 military construction troops to its ally since September to help with infrastructure restoration projects.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
A key aspect of the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative is ensuring America’s ability to launch retaliatory nuclear strikes, the nominee to become the next head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has stressed. This comes amid particular concerns within the halls of the U.S. government about the new deterrence challenges posed by China’s ongoing push to expand the scope and scale of its nuclear capabilities dramatically.
Navy Vice Adm. Richard Correll, who is currently deputy head of STRATCOM, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week about his nomination to lead the command. Ahead of that hearing, he also submitted unclassified written answers to questions from members of the committee.
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Richard Correll testifies at his confirmation hearing to become the next head of US Strategic Command on October 30, 2025. Office of the Secretary of War Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Brann
One of the questions posed to Correll asked how, if confirmed, he would expect to work with the central manager for the Golden Dome initiative, a post currently held by Space Force Gen. Mike Guetlein.
“Per Executive Order 14186, the Golden Dome for America (GDA) Direct Reporting Program Manager (DRPM) is responsible to ‘deliver a next-generation missile defense shield to defend its citizens and critical infrastructure against any foreign aerial attack on the U.S. homeland and guarantees a second-strike capability.’ If confirmed, I look forward to working with the GDA DRPM to ensure missile defense is effective against the developing and increasingly complex missile threats, to guarantee second-strike capability, and to strengthen strategic deterrence,” Correll wrote in response.
In deterrence parlance, a second-strike capability refers to a country’s credible ability to respond in kind to hostile nuclear attacks. This is considered essential to dissuading opponents from thinking they might be able to secure victory through even a massive opening salvo.
Helping to ensure America’s second-strike nuclear deterrent capability, as well as aiding in the defense specifically against enemy “countervalue” attacks, has been central to the plan for Golden Dome, which was originally called Iron Dome, since it was first announced in January. Countervalue nuclear strikes are ones expressly aimed at population centers, as opposed to counterforce strikes directed at military targets.
“Since the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and initiated development of limited homeland missile defense, official United States homeland missile defense policy has remained only to stay ahead of rogue-nation threats and accidental or unauthorized missile launches,” President Donald Trump wrote in his executive order on the new missile defense initiative in January. “Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities.”
At the same time, there might be scenarios in which U.S. officials are concerned that the Ohios may no longer be entirely sufficient. A massive first strike that renders the air and ground legs of the triad moot, and also targets ballistic missile submarines still in port, would certainly put immense pressure on deployed submarines to carry out adequate retaliatory strikes with the warheads available to them. If multiple countries are involved, those demands would only be magnified. Threats to the submarines at sea, including ones we may not know about, as well as enemy missile defenses, something China has also been particularly active in developing, would also have to be factored in. Concerns about the potential destruction or compromise of nuclear command and control nodes, including through physical attacks or non-kinetic ones like cyber intrusions, would affect the overall calculus, too. Altogether, ensuring greater survivability of the other legs of the triad, where Golden Dome would be more relevant, might now be viewed as necessary.
“China’s ambitious expansion, modernization, and diversification of its nuclear forces has heightened the need for a fully modernized, flexible, full-spectrum strategic deterrence force. China remains focused on developing capabilities to dissuade, deter, or defeat third-party intervention in the Indo-Pacific region,” Correll wrote in response to a separate question ahead of his confirmation hearing last week. “We should continue to revise our plans and operations including integrating nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities in all domains across the spectrum of conflict. This will convey to China that the United States will not be deterred from defending our interests or those of our allies and partners, and should deterrence fail, having a combat ready force to achieve the President’s objectives.”
Correll’s written responses also highlighted concerns about Russia’s nuclear modernization efforts and growing nuclear threats presented by North Korea. He also touched on the current U.S. government position that there has been a worrisome increase in coordination between China, Russia, and North Korea, which presents additional challenges that extend beyond nuclear weapons.
“The Russian Federation continues to modernize and diversify its arsenal, further complicating deterrence. Regional actors, such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) present additional threats,” he wrote. “More than nuclear, China and Russia maintain strategic non-nuclear capabilities that can cause catastrophic destruction. The major challenge facing USSTRATCOM is not just addressing each of these threat actors individually but addressing them comprehensively should their alignment result in coordinated aggression.”
A graphic put out by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) highlighting nuclear and conventionally-armed missile threats to the U.S. homeland that are driving the need for Golden Dome. DIA
It is important to stress that significant questions have been raised about the Golden Dome plans, including the feasibility of key elements, such as space-based anti-missile interceptors, and the immense costs expected to be involved. When any new operational Golden Dome capabilities might begin to enter service very much remains to be seen. Guetlein, the officer now in charge of the initiative, has described it as being “on the magnitude of the Manhattan Project,” which produced the very first nuclear weapons.
There is also the question of whether work on Golden Dome might exacerbate the exact nuclear deterrence imbalances it is supposed to help address. In his written responses to the questions ahead of his confirmation hearing, Correll acknowledged the impact that U.S. missile defense developments over the past two decades have already had on China’s nuclear arsenal and deterrence policies.
“China believes these new capabilities offset existing U.S. and allies missile defense systems,” he wrote. This, in turn, “may affect their nuclear strike calculus, especially if state survival is at risk.”
JL-1 air-launched ballistic missiles, or mockups thereof, on parade in Beijing on September 3, 2025. The JL-1 is one of the newest additions to China’s strategic arsenal and is key to enabling the air leg of the country’s fledgling triad. Central Military Commission of China
Russian officials also regularly highlight countering U.S. missile defenses as a key driver behind their country’s efforts to expand and evolve its nuclear arsenal. Just last week, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin claimed that new tests of the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon torpedo, both of which are nuclear-powered and intended to be nuclear-armed, had been successfully carried out. The development of both of those weapons has been influenced by a desire to obviate missile defenses.
In terms of global nuclear deterrence policies, there is now the additional wrinkle of the possibility of the United States resuming critical-level weapons testing. Trump announced a still largely unclear shift in U.S. policy in this regard last week. The U.S. Department of Energy has pushed back on the potential for new tests involving the detonation of actual nuclear devices, but Trump has also talked about a need to match work being done by Russia and China. You can read more about the prospect of new full-up U.S. nuclear weapon testing here.
The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is…
— Commentary: Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) October 30, 2025
American authorities have accused Russia in the past of violating its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) with very low-yield tests and criticized China for a lack of transparency around its testing activities. Russian authorities say they are now looking into what it would take to resume open critical-level nuclear testing in response to Trump’s comments.
North Korea is the only country to have openly conducted critical-level nuclear tests in the 21st century, and there are fears now it could be gearing up for another one. It should be noted that the United States and other nuclear powers regularly conduct nuclear weapon testing that does not involve critical-level detonations.
For now, as underscored by Correll’s responses to the questions posed ahead of his recent confirmation hearing, concerns about the assuredness of America’s nuclear second-strike capability remain a key factor in the push ahead with Golden Dome.
Kyiv, Ukraine – The collective West is scared of Moscow’s new, nuclear-powered cruise missile because it can reach anywhere on Earth, bypassing the most sophisticated air and missile defence systems, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed.
“They’re afraid of what we’ll show to them next,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the RIA Novosti news agency on Sunday.
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Days earlier, she said Moscow was “forced” to develop and test the cruise missile, which is named the Burevestnik, meaning storm petrel – a type of seabird, in response to NATO’s hostility towards Russia.
“The development can be characterised as forced and takes place to maintain strategic balance,” she was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying. Russia “has to respond to NATO’s increasingly destabilising actions in the field of missile defence”.
With much pomp, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday handed state awards to Burevestnik’s developers.
Also awarded were the designers of Poseidon, an underwater nuclear-powered torpedo which Putin has also claimed has been successfully tested.
Russia says Poseidon can carry nuclear weapons that cause radioactive tsunamis, wiping out huge coastal areas. The “super torpedo” can move at the speed of 200km/h (120mph) and zigzag its way to avoid interception, it says.
“In terms of flight range, the Burevestnik … has surpassed all known missile systems in the world,” Putin said in his speech at the Kremlin. “Same as any other nuclear power, Russia is developing its nuclear potential, its strategic potential … What we are talking about now is the work announced a long time ago.”
But military and nuclear experts are sceptical about the efficiency and lethality of the new weapons.
It is not unusual for Russia to flaunt its arsenal as its onslaught in Ukraine continues. Analysts say rather than scaring its critics, Moscow’s announcements are merely a scare tactic to dissuade Western powers from supporting Kyiv.
“There’s nothing revolutionary about,” the Burevestnik, said Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project at the the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.
“It can fly long and far, and there’s some novelty about it, but there’s nothing to back [Putin’s claim] that it can absolutely change everything,” Podvig told Al Jazeera. “One can’t say that it is invincible and can triumph over everything.”
The Burevestnik’s test is part of Moscow’s media stratagem of intimidating the West when the real situation on the front lines in Ukraine is desperate, according to a former Russian diplomat.
The missile is “not a technical breakthrough but a product of propaganda and desperation”, Boris Bondarev, who quit his Russian Foreign Ministry job to protest against the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, wrote in an opinion piece published by the Moscow Times.
“It symbolises not strength but weakness – the Kremlin’s lack of any tools of political influence other than threats.”
Few details about ‘unique’ missile
The problem is that officials have so far unveiled very little about the Burevestnik, which NATO has dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall – a missile that has a nuclear reactor allegedly capable of keeping it in the air indefinitely.
On October 26, when fatigues-clad Putin announced Burevestnik’s successful test, he was accompanied by his top general Valery Gerasimov.
“This is a unique item; no one else in the world has it,” said Putin, in televised remarks.
Gerasimov said the Burevestnik had flown 14,000km (8,700 miles) in 15 hours during a recent test. It can manoeuvre and loiter midair, and unleash its nuclear load with “guaranteed precision” and at “any distance”.
“There’s a lot of work ahead” before the missile is mass-produced, Putin concluded, adding the test’s “key objectives have been achieved”.
A Ukrainian military expert ridiculed the Kremlin’s claims.
“Much of the news report is fake, the (Burevestnik) missile is subsonic, it can be detected and destroyed by missile defence systems,” Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces who specialised in air and missile defence, told Al Jazeera.
As for the Poseidon nuclear drone, it is too destructive – and can be used only as a second-strike, retaliatory weapon after the start of a nuclear war, experts warned. As with the Burevestnik, the lack of detailed information about Poseidon casts doubt upon the Kremlin’s claims.
Trump decries ‘inappropriate’ tests
The announcements followed Washington’s scrapping of United States President Donald Trump’s summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary.
Trump has called the Burevestnik’s test “inappropriate” and ordered the Pentagon to resume the testing of nuclear weapons and missiles.
But ahead of next year’s midterm elections, he may seek to show how he forced the Kremlin to stop hostilities in Ukraine.
“Trump will have to play with pressure on Russia,” Romanenko said. “Hopefully, the circumstances will force Trump to act.”
What Putin has not mentioned is that only two of the Burevestnik’s dozen tests, starting in 2019, have been successful.
Its 2019 launch near the White Sea in northwestern Russia killed at least five nuclear experts after a radioactive explosion, Western experts said at the time. Russia’s state nuclear agency acknowledged the deaths, but officials and media reports do not provide video footage, detailed photos or other specifics of the Burevestnik and its testing route – making Putin’s latest claims hard to corroborate or disprove.
Western experts were able to identify the Burevestnik’s probable deployment site in September. Known as Vologda-20 or Chebsara, it is believed to be 475km (295 miles) north of Moscow and has nine launch pads under construction, the Reuters news agency reported last year.
The missile’s capabilities have divided military analysts.
“In operation, the Burevestnik would carry a nuclear warhead (or warheads), circle the globe at low altitude, avoid missile defences, and dodge terrain; and drop the warhead(s) at a difficult-to-predict location (or locations),” the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US nonprofit security group said in a 2019 report after the missile’s first somewhat successful test.
A year later, the US Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center said, if brought into service, Burevestnik would give Moscow a “unique weapon with intercontinental-range capability”.
‘Burevestnik is a mystification’
Others doubt the missile’s functionality.
“Burevestnik is a mystification for the whole seven-and-a-half years since it was first announced,” Pavel Luzin, a visiting scholar at Tufts University in Massachusetts, told Al Jazeera.
“It’s impossible to create a reactor that is compact and powerful enough to ensure a cruise missile’s movement,” Luzin said. “This is a basic physics textbook.”
Moscow claims that Burevestnik utilises nuclear propulsion instead of turbojet or turbofan engines used in cruise or ballistic missiles.
But Luzin said the smallest nuclear reactors used to power satellites weighed 1 metric tonne, supplying several kilowatts of energy – roughly equal to what a regular household consumes – while emitting some 150kw of thermal energy.
The experimental nuclear reactors developed in the 1950s and the 60s for aircraft weighed many tonnes and were the size of a railway carriage, he said.
An average engine for a cruise missile weighs up to 80kg, generates 4kw for onboard electric and electronic devices, and about 1 megawatt of energy for propelling the missile, he said.
Other analysts think that Burevestnik’s nuclear engine can function, but do not consider the weapon groundbreaking.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Russia has said that it conducted a long-awaited test of its mysterious Burevestnik (also known to NATO as SSC-X-9 Skyfall) cruise missile last week, claiming that it flew for 8,700 miles. The missile, which is nuclear-powered, is said to have remained in the air for around 15 hours. For the time being, we don’t know if those statements are factually accurate, and details about how the missile actually works remain very scarce. However, the claimed test has led to boasts about the missile’s performance from Russian President Vladimir Putin, while his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, called upon Putin to end the war in Ukraine “instead of testing missiles.”
Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin yesterday that a successful test of the Burevestnik was carried out on October 21. Gerasimov said that the 15-hour flight “is not the [maximum] limit” for the missile. Regardless, if true, this would appear to be the first long-endurance test of the missile.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov during a meeting earlier this month in Saint Petersburg. Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP MIKHAIL METZEL
In response to Gerasimov’s remarks, Putin commented: “I remember vividly when we announced that we were developing such a weapon, even highly qualified specialists told me that, yes, it was a good and worthy goal, but unrealizable in the near future. This was the opinion of specialists, I repeat, highly qualified. And now the decisive tests have been completed.”
People are asking what’s the purpose of Burevestnik and why develop a system that is very much useless as a weapon. The answer has always been right there, in the 1 March 2018 address. Russian president has always wanted to say these words. The rest doesn’t matter really. pic.twitter.com/0Q7JUGBqo3
Of all these weapons, the Burevestnik has long been among the most intriguing.
As TWZ described when it was first announced, the basic concept of a nuclear-powered cruise missile is by no means new.
After all, in the 1960s, the U.S. Air Force explored a similar idea with its Supersonic Low Altitude Missile, or SLAM. This weapon employed a nuclear-powered ramjet along with conventional rocket boosters to kickstart the system. Once at the appropriate speed, the engine would blow air over the reactor, which could have enough fuel to operate for weeks or months on end, and then force it out of an exhaust nozzle to produce thrust.
The Tory II-C nuclear ramjet engine that was tested in 1964 and which helped inform the abortive Supersonic Low Altitude Missile, or SLAM, program. Public Domain
A missile of this kind has extreme endurance, not limited by conventional fuel onboard as all other air-breathing missiles are, can be wildly unpredictable and tough to defend against.
While we don’t know what kind of nuclear propulsion the Burevestnik uses, provided this kind of technology can be made reliable, the implications are significant.
Of the latest test, Gerasimov said: “The technical characteristics of the Burevestnik generally allow it to be used with guaranteed accuracy against highly protected targets at any distance.” He added that: “vertical and horizontal maneuvers were completed,” something that would allow the missile to “bypass anti-missile and air defense systems.”
As we have surmised before, an operational Burevestnik would likely cruise at high subsonic speed on a circuitous route at extremely low altitude, helping it to avoid surface-based early warning systems and missile defense interceptors.
Using a two-way datalink, it should be possible to adapt the Burevestnik’s course in flight to further confuse an opponent or actively counter any attempts to intercept the missile.
The American SLAM concept involved a payload of multiple nuclear warheads that could be dropped on different targets along the way, but again, the warhead of the Russian missile remains mysterious. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, claimed that the latest test involved a warhead. If true, it would almost certainly involve a mock warhead, without the nuclear material, which would serve to test fuzing and detonation, for example.
Congratulations to all Russia’s friends on the successful test of the unlimited-range Burevestnik (Storm petrel) cruise missile with a nuclear engine and warhead ⚡️😃
Nevertheless, a technically perfected Burevestnik remains a somewhat questionable goal given previous problems with the program. At the same time, there remains the very real issue of safety and environmental hazards. We will dive deeper into both these factors later.
Returning to last week’s test, Gerasimov didn’t say where it took place, but it’s widely assumed to have been in Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in northern Russia, situated in the Arctic Ocean, and used for many previous weapons tests.
Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) orders issued for October 21 showed a large area around Novaya Zemlya closed off, corresponding to a Russian missile test or live-fire exercise.
Over on the other site, David was covering the lead up to the apparently successful Burevestnik test. Sadly, its almost all ship tracking because this late in the year, you don’t get many satellite images that far north. pic.twitter.com/k04x9u6whp
Meanwhile, several Russian vessels that are known to be used in missile tests were noted in positions along the coast of the Arctic archipelago, both on the Barents Sea and Kara Sea sides. Probable support aircraft belonging to Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, and the Russian Aerospace Forces were also seen at Rogachevo airfield on Novaya Zemlya.
There have also been flights by a U.S. Air Force WC-135 Constant Phoenix “nuke sniffer” aircraft in the region, which some observers suggested could have been related to a Burevestnik. After a flight by this aircraft around the Barents Sea on August 5, the Air Force told TWZ that this was “to conduct routine background collection … to ensure signatory nations are adhering to established United Nations treaties.” The Air Force spokesperson added that the deployment of the WC-135 to the United Kingdom was planned and scheduled months in advance.
Background collection is something that could be conducted in anticipation of a Burevestnik test in the future. This data will be used to compare that from a collection mission following a test. At the same time, the wider region hosts other Russian nuclear assets, which would also be of interest for such flights, which are fairly regular in occurrence.
Finally, the test site at Pankovo, north of Rogachevo, on Yuzhny Island in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, has seen considerable activity starting this summer. Pankovo hosts what is understood to be the main launch site for the Burevestnik, with two rail-type launchers under a retractable covering.
A view of the test site at Pankovo, with a missile launcher in the raised position. via X
Update on the Burevestnik launch site. Launchers and covers for the first Burevestnik company are being installed. The presence of lightning rods suggest that assets will be on the pad for long periods of time. pic.twitter.com/UvhryhIJVd
On 21 October 2025 Russia conducted “the key test” of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile (also referred to as SSC-X-9 Skyfall). The test is reported to be successful. The missile travelled 14,000 km in a 15-hour flight (Image: Pan’kovo test site). Links follow 1/ pic.twitter.com/OVuCCjPiDO
Provided that last week’s test was conducted from Pankovo, making use of the area signaled by the NOTAM, then the missile must have flown in a racetrack or zigzag pattern around the Arctic archipelago. Less likely would be a longer route flown across the north of Russia.
A map showing Russia’s Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The specific location of the Pankovo test site is also marked. Google Earth
Whatever the case, Norway, the closest NATO country to the test area, said it hadn’t detected any spikes in radiation at any of its monitoring posts.
“We have not measured anything abnormal at our measuring stations in Norway,” a spokesperson for the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) told the Barents Observer. However, there is still time for such a reading to be made.
“If there has been a radioactive release in connection with Russia’s testing of the cruise missile, it will take a long time to travel to Norway, and it will take time before it can be registered at our measuring stations,” the DSA spokesperson added.
Previous tests of the Burevestnik have not been without incident.
When he announced the missile in 2018, Putin suggested that tests of the propulsion system had occurred the previous year, but there was no indication of whether this had been in flight or on the ground and under what conditions.
A grainy screengrab, released in 2018, that may show the nuclear-powered cruise missile during a test flight. via Channel One Russia
Soon after Putin’s 2018 announcement, the Norwegian-based environmental group Bellona suggested that a radiation spike in the Arctic that same winter was caused by the missile’s open-air-cooled reactor core.
Later in 2018, a U.S. intelligence report described the loss at sea of a Russian nuclear-powered missile during a 2017 test. The report added that Russia was expected to embark on a search and recovery mission to try to lift the missile’s wreckage from the seabed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense released the video below in 2018, saying that it showed an earlier Burevestnik test launch, as well as examples of the missiles themselves.
More dramatically, in 2019, an explosion occurred aboard a barge in the White Sea, outside Nenoksa, killing five Rosatom scientists. It also led to a radiation spike in the Russian city of Severodvinsk, as you can read more about here. The explosion has been blamed on a reactor from a Burevestnik recovered from the sea, likely the one that was lost in 2017.
While the details of these accidents remain murky, they point to a significant problem in using nuclear propulsion for a missile or any other vehicle flying in the atmosphere.
It should be recalled that, in the case of SLAM, the nuclear ramjet had no shielding to contain dangerous radiation, a requirement driven by the need for the powerplant to be small enough to fit inside the missile. The SLAM’s exhaust plume also contained unspent fissile material that would have contaminated any area, enemy-controlled or not, that it passed over on its way to the target.
While the Burevestnik has already been likened to a ‘tiny flying Chernobyl’ by some observers, it’s important to remember that we still don’t know how it functions.
Nevertheless, provided it does indeed use nuclear propulsion, as claimed, there exists the risk of accidents.
“The testing [of the Burevestnik] carries a risk of accidents and local radioactive emissions,” Norway’s Intelligence Service (NIS) stated in a threat assessment report published last year.
This is especially the case during an unarmed test, when the missile necessarily has to come down to the surface, impacting either land or water. Here, especially, there remain a lot of questions about how the missile is tested.
A screencap from an official Russian Ministry of Defense video that purports to show a Burevestnik test round. Russian Ministry of Defensescreencap
It’s possible that the missile came down in waters around Novaya Zemlya, in either the Barents Sea or the Kara Sea. According to the Barents Observerand other sources, there are several ships in this area, on both sides of the Matochkin Strait, which might be involved in a recovery operation.
These ships include Rosatom’s special-purpose vessel Rossita, on the eastern coast of the Kola Peninsula. This vessel was noted making port calls in Novaya Zemlya after previous presumed Burevestnik tests. The Rossita is equipped to transport spent nuclear fuel and other hazardous radioactive material.
Perhaps, if Norway subsequently detects a radioactive spike in this area, we might learn more about where the missile ended its flight.
In the meantime, Putin took the opportunity to push claims about the missile’s game-changing nature.
“We need to determine the possible uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces,” Putin said yesterday. This is especially relevant considering that the New START treaty with the United States, which puts a limit on strategic nuclear warheads and launchers, expires next year. Gerasimov’s announcement of the long-distance test also came one day before Russia began its annual Grom strategic nuclear maneuvers.
When asked for his reaction to the claims of the Burevestnik test, President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. Navy has a nuclear submarine “right off their shores,” meaning that there is no immediate requirement for a missile with the kind of range that the Russian cruise missile should possess.
At the same time, Trump noted that Russia is “not playing games with us. We’re not playing games with them either.” As for Putin’s comments on the missile test, Trump said: “I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying,” reminding the Russian leader that the priority was to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Trump responded to Putin’s threats and the recent Burevestnik missile test by reminding that the US has a nuclear submarine “right off their coast.”
He said there’s no need to fire missiles 8,000 miles when such assets are already in place, and called on Putin to end a war that… pic.twitter.com/kRIlFdMzQZ
Still, the prospect of the Burevestnik entering service is a concerning one for adversaries of Russia. The missile can be launched preemptively and approach its target from any vector long after launch. For example, it could be launched from the Arctic, stay aloft for many hours, and then attack the United States from the south. Once launched, its flight path is entirely unpredictable, and it could exploit holes in defenses and weaker spots in early warning capabilities. It provides another reason why space-based tracking layers, including those that can spot low-flying aircraft, are currently very much on trend.
It is also worth noting that the latest Burevestnik test comes at a time when the U.S. Golden Dome initiative is taking shape, and the Russian missile reinforces the case for such a system. At the same time, it also underlines the reason why Russia wants weapons like this, so that it can better bypass existing strategic air defense systems.
The latest developments leave no doubt that the Burevestnik is a prestige program for Russia, even if many questions still surround it, and the nature of the latest test.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Russia has used its ground-launched 9M729 cruise missile to strike targets in Ukraine multiple times in recent months. This is the conclusion of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and it also tallies with reports from independent analysts who have been tracking the use of the missile, the original deployment of which led to the United States walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, Treaty in 2019.
“Russia’s use of the INF-banned 9M729 against Ukraine in the past months demonstrates Putin’s disrespect to the United States and President Trump’s diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Sybiha said.
Since August, Russia has been attacking Ukraine with the 9M729 cruise missile, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, Reuters reported, citing Ukraine’s FM Sybiha.
Moscow’s use of the missile in the past months demonstrates “Putin’s disrespect to the United States and President… pic.twitter.com/VkvGrD2NyP
Sybiha’s comments provide the first confirmation that Russia has used the 9M729 missile — known to NATO as the SSC-8 Screwdriver — in combat.
Another, unnamed Ukrainian senior official toldReuters that Russia had fired the 9M729 against targets in Ukraine 23 times since August 21 of this year. The same source said that the missile had been launched on two other occasions since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; it is not immediately clear if these were also combat launches, but a combat evaluation is a strong possibility.
Notably, the Kremlin had, on August 4, said it would no longer limit where it deploys nuclear-capable missiles with ranges in excess of the former INF Treaty. That would suggest something of a change in policy, publicly at least, prior to the more regular combat employment of the 9M729.
And here is 9M729. Note that “they began [to use it] on August 21.” Russia formally announced the end of its moratorium on August 4. So, it appears that the moratorium on deployment was a thing. https://t.co/Izbqhz7uKP 1/2
According to Reuters, quoting another unnamed military source, one of the 9M729 missiles fired by Russia, on October 5 of this year, flew over 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) before hitting a target in Ukraine.
To absolutely no one’s surprise (well, probably and unfortunately to some), the 9M729 is confirmed to have a range well-above 500 kilometers.
My conservative assessment based on its technical features, which I published on Missile Matters in August, was at least 1,700… pic.twitter.com/vmyR6i6vwd
The range is significant, since it was this factor that the United States argued put the 9M729 in breach of the INF Treaty, which put a limit of 500 kilometers (310 miles) on ground-launched missiles, nuclear or conventional.
If the military source’s information is accurate, then it would confirm that, as expected, the 9M729 is able to fly far beyond the now-defunct INF Treaty limits.
Now that we have proof the 9M729 is the INF-busting missile the US said it was all along, I hope certain arms control experts apologize for attempting to undercut US claims and NATO consenus. Trump may have handled it undiplomatically, but this was a bipartisan decision. 5/5
As to the veracity of the Ukrainian comments on the use of the 9M729, Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told TWZ that he considered them to be plausible.
“If you think what the Russians have been doing elsewhere in terms of their weapons, the things that they have had in the locker and wanted to test, then you can see why they would want to use it,” Barrie said.
For its part, Russia has always denied that the 9M729 violated the now-defunct nuclear arms control treaty. At the same time, it accused the United States of violating the same treaty through the construction of Aegis Ashore missile defense sites in Europe, which it argues can be used to fire the BGM-109 Tomahawk land attack cruise missile, something that U.S. officials deny.
According to the Missile Threat website produced at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the 9M729 can actually hit targets as far away as 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles). Meanwhile, Douglas Barrie at the IISS says that he assesses the missile to have a likely range at least in excess of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).
There is some evidence that backs up the claims of the 9M729’s use in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials provided Reuters with images of debris after a Russian attack on the Ukrainian village of Lapaiivka on October 5, which purportedly involved the 9M729. This struck a residential building, killing four people, at a distance of over 600 kilometers (373 miles) from the Russian border.
Reportedly, these images include two missile fragments that were marked 9M729.
These images were reviewed by Jeffrey Lewis, Distinguished Scholar of Global Security at Middlebury College, who agreed that they were consistent with the 9M729’s expected appearance. In particular, the missile body and engine, as well as the distinct markings, pointed to the 9M729, according to Lewis’s analysis.
The Kremlin has not commented on the alleged use of the 9M729.
Russia only publicly acknowledged the existence of the 9M729 in November 2018, though it reportedly entered development sometime in the mid-2000s.
In 2019, Russia publicly displayed the launch canisters for the 9M729 and its associated transporter erector launcher, or TEL, and offered some details about the complete system.
The launch canisters for the 9M729 missile and their associated TEL. Sergei Bobylev/TASS
At that time, Russia said that the 9M729 featured an improved guidance system and a larger warhead compared to the older 9M728, known to NATO as the SSC-7 Southpaw, another weapon understood to have been used by Russia against Ukraine. Russia argued that the 9M729 was longer, heavier, and actually had less range than its predecessor. The new TEL can also carry four missiles, while the older vehicle associated with the 9M728/SSC-7 could only fire two before needing to reload.
The TEL for the older 9M728/SSC-7 ground-launched cruise missile, with a launch canister in the firing position. Vadim Grishankin
Russia has said that the 9M729 has a range of just less than 300 miles, which would be clearly contradicted by the latest information from Ukraine, provided it is accurate.
The more regular employment of the 9M729 would provide Russia with another cruise missile option for striking Ukraine. Up until now, it has primarily relied on the air-launched Kh-101 cruise missile, as well as the Kalibr, which can be launched from surface combatants and submarines. All of these weapons, 9M728 and 9M729 included, are subsonic.
However, compared to other land-based options, the 9M729 offers Russia the advantage that it can be launched from locations deeper inside Russia. It is also mobile, meaning that it is relatively easy to relocate and to conceal, so it can be fired from different locations and axes, making it harder for already hard-pressed Ukrainian air defenses to deal with.
There are several other reasons why Russia might now be using the 9M729.
It could be that numbers of the Kh-101 and Kalibr are running low, with Russia’s military-industrial complex, hampered by Western sanctions, which especially affect high-technology components of the kind that precision-guided weapons rely on, unable to backfill the arsenal sufficiently. Existing 9M729 rounds would provide another option to boost stocks of standoff weapons.
Approximate dimensions of the 9M729 according to Russian specifications.
The graphic, published by Sputnik News in 2019, matches Russia’s stated dimensions: a 51.4 cm diameter and a length 53 cm greater than the 9M728, which is reportedly 6.2 m long, making the 9M729 roughly… pic.twitter.com/XTJUE4WD1O
Secondly, there is the issue of signaling to Ukraine’s allies in the West.
The reported use of the 9M729 comes as Kyiv pushes for the United States to supply it with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Like the 9M729, these would be ground-launched weapons and would be able to strike targets deep inside Russia with a very high degree of precision. Unlike the 9M729, the Tomahawk was not outlawed under the INF Treaty, since, at that time, it was only sea-launched.
As far as Kyiv is concerned, having access to weapons like the Tomahawk would put additional pressure on Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.
Russian officials, including Putin, have warned that supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks would be a dangerous escalation.
Russian employment of the 9M729 also serves as a message to NATO nations in Europe, most of which fall well within its assumed range.
Moscow has repeatedly denied that the 9M729, which has conventional and nuclear armed variants, breached the INF Treaty. The Novator 9M728 (RS-SSC-7 Southpaw), a 500 km-range version of the same missile family, has been used in Ukraine.
In that sense, employing the 9M729 also serves to send a clear message to the West that Russia won’t bow to pressure, especially over the conflict in Ukraine. Other examples include recent tests of high-profile nuclear-capable weapons like the Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped, ultra-long-endurance torpedo, which you can read about here, and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, discussed here.
Another new weapon, the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, has also been used against Ukraine by Russia. Today, Ukraine claimed that its security service and military intelligence destroyed one of these missile systems during a covert operation at the Kapustin Yar testing range, in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia.
In the United States, meanwhile, President Donald Trump issued a statement this week saying he “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.” The reason, Trump explained, was because of “other countries [sic] testing programs.”
The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is…
— Commentary: Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) October 30, 2025
The exact meaning of this statement remains unclear, but the possible implications are something we have discussed in detail.
At this point, we still don’t know with certainty that Russia is now using the 9M729 cruise missile against Ukrainian targets. However, considering its employment of other long-range weapons in the conflict, and the Kremlin’s ongoing efforts to send threatening signals toward Europe as Washington seeks a peace settlement, it certainly seems to fit that pattern.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
A contract the U.S. Navy recently awarded to defense startup Castelion may point to its pursuit of a new, lower-cost, air-launched hypersonic strike weapon. The service has something of a gap to fill now after halting plans for an air-launched, air-breathing hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile roughly a year ago, due to cost and industrial base factors. A version of Castelion’s Blackbeard hypersonic missile could also find its way onto Navy ships and submarines, as well as ground-based launchers.
Last Friday, Castelion announced that it had received contracts from the Navy, as well as the U.S. Army, for “integration” of Blackbeard onto unspecified “operational platforms.” TWZ has reached out to the Navy for more information. The Army has already made clear it is interested in employing Blackbeard in a ground-launched mode, as you can read more about here.
A test article that Castelion has used in previous testing related to Blackbeard in front of a palletized launcher loaded on a truck. CastelionCorporation
“Under these agreements, Castelion will work with both services to integrate the hypersonic Blackbeard weapon system onto operational platforms and demonstrate its capabilities in live-fire tests – advancing the Department of War’s effort to evaluate and accelerate new, cost-effective strike capabilities for conventional deterrence,” according to a company press release. “Blackbeard is Castelion’s first long-range, hypersonic strike weapon, designed for mass production and rapid fielding once integration and testing are complete. The system leverages vertically integrated propulsion and guidance subsystems to achieve performance at a fraction of the cost of legacy weapons – supporting the Department’s objective of building credible, non-nuclear deterrent capacity at scale.”
Many questions remain about the expected final design and capabilities of the Blackbeard missile, including whether or not it will feature some form of air-breathing propulsion. The full “weapon system” could also incorporate multiple designs. Castelion has already conducted numerous live-fire launches using different test articles.
OCTOBER 5, 2025
Two more development flights completed Sunday.
Each test validates vertically integrated subsystems and components from new suppliers nationwide – tightening the link between engineering and manufacturing to deliver capability faster. pic.twitter.com/t4tKM2cPx9
The designs seen in testing to date “are representative of the low-cost internally developed test vehicles we use to enable rapid subsystem design iteration and to ground our performance models in real-world test data,” Castelion told TWZ back in June. “Castelion’s approach to development focuses on getting into hardware-in-the-loop and flight testing early in development to support learning cycles across design, production, and test. As such, flight vehicles shown on social media are not representative nor intended to be representative of our final weapon systems.”
Various Blackbeard test articles. Castelion Corporation
As TWZ has noted in the past, the term “hypersonic missile” typically refers to weapons designed for sustained hypersonic speed across a relatively shallow and even maneuvering trajectory. This can include designs that use a ballistic missile-like booster to loft an unpowered glide vehicle to a desired velocity and altitude before releasing it toward its target, as well as air-breathing cruise missiles capable of traveling at hypersonic speeds. Hypersonic speed is generally defined as anything above Mach 5, which larger ballistic missiles do reach in the course of their flights.
A graphic showing, in a very rudimentary way, the difference in trajectories between a traditional ballistic missile and a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, as well as that of a quasi or aeroballistic missile and an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile. GAO A graphic showing, in very basic terms, the differences in flight trajectory between a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle and a traditional ballistic missile, as well as air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles. GAO
The testing that Castelion has disclosed so far has also been centered on the employment of Blackbeard in the ground-launched mode, which is fully in line with what is known about the Army’s plans for the weapon. The Navy could have a similar eye toward surface (or sub-surface) launch modes from ships, submarines, or even launchers on the ground.
Another flight test in the books – this time @Spaceport_NM. Our second flight in the past 30 days.
The best way to stay ahead of your adversary in a prolonged competition is to have faster learning cycles than they do. pic.twitter.com/9n776j8XWr
At the same time, there are indications that the Navy is pursuing Blackbeard, at least in part, as an air-launched weapon. In February 2024, Castelion received a contract from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), valued at just under $3 million, to “perform an initial trade study to identify cost, schedule, and performance estimates of producing an air-launched anti-surface weapon and shipping system not to exceed 212″ in length with an on-aircraft weight limit of 2,750 lbs. and an air-to-air weapon with not-to-exceed dimensions of 7″ diameter x 144″ long with production quantity of >200 no later than 2027 for both weapons.”
Whether or not the air-to-air weapon design mentioned here is part of the larger work Castelion is doing on Blackbeard, or a separate project, is unknown. The company has previously said that it was aiming to have a more finalized Blackbeard design by 2027.
This is not the first time that work on an air-launched variation of Blackbeard has come up, either. In its 2026 Fiscal Year budget request, the Army said that the ground-launched version of the weapon that it expects to receive will leverage an “existing air-launched, extended-range Blackbeard design,” but did not elaborate. TWZ has reached out to the Army for more information in the past.
As noted, the Navy has had a stated requirement for an air-launched hypersonic anti-surface warfare capability for years now. Starting in 2021, the service had been pursuing an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile to meet that need through a program called Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO). Raytheon and Lockheed Martin had been working on competing designs.
A rendering of Lockheed Martin’s HALO design. Lockheed Martin
The Navy had hoped to begin fielding HALO before the end of the decade. However, in late 2024, the service scrapped plans to move the program to the next phase of development.
“The Navy cancelled the solicitation for the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) effort in fall 2024 due to budgetary constraints that prevent fielding new capability within the planned delivery schedule,” Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, a service spokesperson, told TWZ in April of this year. “The decision was made after the Navy conducted a careful analysis, looking at cost trends and program performance across the munitions industrial base compared to the Navy’s priorities and existing fiscal commitments.”
“We are working closely with our resource sponsors to revalidate the requirements, with an emphasis on affordability,” Flanders added at that time. “The Navy is committed to its investment in Long Range Fires to meet National Defense objectives, with priority emphasis on fielding continued capability improvements to the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).”
Castelion’s focus on lower-cost and producibility for Blackbeard, coupled with the schedule it is targeting for development of the missile, all align with the Navy’s stated post-HALO plans. The service had previously described HALO as a critical capability, especially in the context of future high-end fighting, such as one in the Pacific against China.
A Raytheon rendering of a notional air-launched hypersonic missile. Raytheon
The Navy could well be looking at multiple options to meet this ongoing requirement for a new, air-launched, high-speed, anti-ship weapon. The service is already fielding an air-launched version of the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), called the AIM-174B, ostensibly in the anti-air role. However, in its surface-launched form, the SM-6 also has an anti-ship capability, and the AIM-174B could be used in that role, as well.
President Donald Trump, at right, and Navy Rear Adm. Alexis Walker, head of Carrier Strike Group 10, at left, walk past an F/A-18 Super Hornet loaded with a training version of the AIM-174B missile aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush on October 5, 2025. USN
As mentioned, the Navy could still pursue other versions of Blackbeard beyond an air-launched type. Previously stated plans for HALO also included the eventual development of variants that could be fired from ships and submarines.
Other services could be interested in air-launched variations of Blackbeard, as well. The U.S. Air Force has also awarded Castelion contracts in the past in relation to long-range strike weapon concepts, and TWZ has previously reached out to that service for more information.
All of this is also heavily contingent on Castelion meeting its schedule, cost, and other goals for Blackbeard. The Army’s budget documents show it is pursuing Blackbeard aggressively, but through a phased approach that offers multiple off-ramps.
Castelion has certainly received a new vote of confidence on Blackbeard, regardless of launch modes, with the new integration contracts from the Navy and the Army.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tianjin, China in September. Putin has announced Russia tested a nuclear missile and is ready to deploy it. File photo by Russia’s Presidential Office/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 26 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country has tested a new, nuclear-capable missile and is preparing to deploy it.
The weapon runs on nuclear power, which makes it capable of flying much further than other missiles, according to the Kremlin, and is able to evade missile detection and defense systems.
“This is a unique product that no one in the world has, Putin, dressed in military fatigues, said during a meeting with military commanders, according to a video posted by the Kremlin. “We need to identify potential uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces.”
Valery V. Gerasimov, general staff of the Russian armed forces, said the missile had remained in flight for 15 hours and traveled 8,700 miles during testing.
“It is a tiny flying Chernobyl,” Gerasimov said during a briefing, referring to a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that became widely known for a catastrophic explosion in 1986.
The missile, known as the SSC-X-9, has been in development for years, and while Putin’s announcement was not a surprise, nuclear experts say it is a bad turn of events.
“This is a bad development,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College. “It is one more science fiction weapon that is going to be destabilizing and hard to address in arms control.”
Putin’s announcement of the missile revives the back and forth between the United States and Russia over nuclear arms, but the first action since President Donald Trump took office in January.
It is the latest in a long series of volleys over nuclear arms between the two countries stretching back decades.
North Korea successfully tested a “new cutting-edge weapons system” involving hypersonic missiles, state-run media reported Thursday. The launch, which took place on Wednesday, was detected by the South’s military. Photo by Jeon Heon-kyun/EPA
SEOUL, Oct. 23 (UPI) —North Korea successfully tested a “new cutting-edge weapons system” involving hypersonic missiles, state-run media reported Thursday, amid heightened regional tensions ahead of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
Two hypersonic projectiles were launched in a northeast direction from the Pyongyang area and hit targets on a plateau of Kwesang Peak in Orang County, North Kamgyong Province, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
“The new weapon system was tested as part of the defense capability development program to enhance the sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence against potential enemies,” KCNA said.
The test, held Wednesday, was overseen by a delegation of officials led by Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not present at the test.
“The new cutting-edge weapon system is a clear proof of steadily upgrading self-defensive technical capabilities of the DPRK,” Pak said, according to KCNA.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
Seoul’s military on Wednesday said that it detected the launch of several short-range ballistic missiles, which flew for roughly 217 miles before falling on land.
U.S. Forces Korea denounced the North’s launches and its “relentless pursuit of long-range missile capabilities,” acts that are prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“The United States condemns these unlawful and destabilizing actions, and we call on the DPRK to refrain from further acts in violation of the UNSCR,” USFK said in a statement.
The launch was North Korea’s fifth of the year, and the first since South Korean President Lee Jae Myung took office in June. Lee has made efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas, with conciliatory gestures such as removing propaganda loudspeakers from border areas.
The missile test comes ahead of South Korea’s hosting of the APEC summit in Gyeongju on Oct. 30-Nov. 1. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit Gyeongju before the official summit for bilateral meetings with leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea’s Lee.
Analysts had speculated that the North may conduct a provocation ahead of the event as Pyongyang continues its push to be recognized as a nuclear-armed state.
The regime unveiled its latest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, at a massive military parade earlier this month. The ICBM, which North Korean state media called the regime’s “most powerful nuclear strategic weapon,” is a solid-fuel missile believed capable of reaching the continental United States.
Hypersonic weapons, meanwhile, travel at least five times the speed of sound and are maneuverable mid-flight, making them a challenge for missile detection and interception systems.
The slender munition, which is named after the cataclysmic end of the world in Norse mythology, is capable of fitting into the bays of the XQ-58 Valkyrie drone, another Kratos product. The missile has a 500 nautical mile range and can carry an 80-pound payload, according to a release from the company. Ragnarok can also cruise at up to 35,000 feet at Mach 0.7.
Ragnaork’s mounted inside and on the wing of an XQ-58. (Kratos)
While these performance figures, as least as claimed, are quite impressive, the price is perhaps more so. Kratos says the missile will cost $150,000 per unit in quantities of 100. One would imagine that number would drop further, possibly substantially so, if purchase volumes were expanded.
The performance and cost figures fit precisely with the USAF’s previously stated goals for such a weapon, which you can read about here.
Other listed features of Ragnarok’s design include a heavy use of carbon composites in its construction, an innovative wing-folding mechanism for compact storage and transport, and its ability to be deployed from weapons bays, wings, and from pallets. The fact that it is clearly built with the XQ-58 as a host in mind could prove to be a major advantage for Kratos, as the stealthy drone has extreme interest from various customers, and especially the USMC. Beyond fighters, advanced drones, bombers, and transports, its small size could see it migrate to non-traditional aircraft, including attack helicopters, if its weight allows it. U.S. Special Operations Command is also highly interested in a small cruise missile with this kind of performance, and is actively testing similar ones now.
XQ-58 heading out on a test mission from Eglin AFB. (USAF) Samuel King Jr.
No mention of a ground/surface launch variant is made in the release, nor are guidance packages and payload options, beyond a warhead, but we have reached out for more info on that and other aspects of the program.
The push for low-cost cruise missiles has exploded with companies large and small coming to the table with various offerings. Few have the pedigree of reliably building relatively advanced, but low-cost airframes like Kratos. Competition is growing rapidly in this space to meet emerging U.S. and foreign demands, which are in some cases intertwined. Ukraine is now in line to receive thousands of low-cost cruise missile-like munitions developed through a USAF program called the Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM). However, other U.S. allies and partners, and the U.S. military itself, could be on track to benefit from the ERAM effort. Whether they come via ERAM or other programs, U.S. military purchases of weapons in this general vein are clearly on the horizon as advanced munitions stockpile concerns are now making headlines.
Kratos past experience in producing advanced target drones has ported directly over into the offensive marketplace. (Kratos)
Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems, is quoted as stating the following in the official release from Kratos:
“The Ragnarök LCCM represents our commitment to developing high-performance strike systems, for Valkyrie, that meet the evolving needs of today’s warfighter in conjunction with the budget realities that dictate what systems ultimately make it to the field… Its modular design delivers maximum combat capability for carriage and launch options. With complementary capability to the Northrop Grumman’s Lumberjack that’s recently been in the news, weapons in this new class which support unmanned and manned applications are coming to the forefront demonstrating their performance value per cost.”
As noted earlier, we reached out to Kratos with a number of questions about Ragnarok and the vision for it as it evolves, as well as its exact developmental state, although the company does say in their release that it is “ready for production.”
North Korea showcased its newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, during a military parade in Pyongyang overseen by leader Kim Jong Un. The missile is believed to be capable of reaching anywhere on the US mainland.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Northrop Grumman has been doing detailed design work that lays a path to air-launching its Lumberjack loitering one-way attack drone from Kratos’ stealthy XQ-58 Valkyrie uncrewed aircraft. Multiple crewed and uncrewed aircraft are being eyed as potential platforms for employing Lumberjack, which is already being tested in surface-launched modes and will have the ability to drop its own smaller precision munitions.
In a statement to TWZ today, Northrop Grumman confirmed that “Valkyrie is one of the multiple platforms we’re doing detailed design work for to ensure compatibility with Lumberjack” and that “Valkyrie is a good representation of a possible use case.” The XQ-58 is prominently featured in the Lumberjack product card available on Northrop Grumman’s website at the time of writing. It also depicts a Lumberjack launching a Hatchet miniature precision-guided glide bomb, which the company also produces, and that we will come back to later on.
A rendering of a Lumberjack launching a Hatchet. Northrop Grumman
Our own Howard Altman also recently had a chance to talk with Michael Bastin, Northrop Grumman’s director of programs for Lumberjack, to get a broader update on its ongoing development. The new one-way attacker was first unveiled in April at this year’s Modern Day Marine conference.
Northrop Grumman’s Lumberjack. Northrop Grumman
Since then, Lumber has “participated in both of the T-REX events this year. So, those are the technology, readiness, and experimentation events hosted by OUSD(R&E) [the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, also now referred to as the Office of the Undersecretary of War for Research and Engineering],” Bastin said. “Those are really valuable for us. We got a chance to get operators to look and engage with the system, [and] actually do an end-to-end simulated mission in a relevant type of environment with a lot of capabilities that people were looking for.”
A very basic overview of what T-REX offers to the U.S. military, as well as allies and partners. DOD
At the T-REX events, Northrop Grumman also demonstrated Lumberjack’s “ability to launch from two different styles of [ground-based] launchers, the electric rail launcher and the pneumatic launcher,” both provided by other companies, he added. “We are launcher agnostic. So we don’t really develop the launchers ourselves. We just show up to the ride.”
A Lumberjack seen loaded on a pneumatic launcher. Northrop Grumman
Bastin declined to elaborate further on the mission scenarios and the capabilities demonstrated at the T-REX events. He also acknowledged that the same kinds of launchers could be employed in shipboard scenarios, but said that Northrop Grumman’s current focus in terms of the surface-launched mode is on ground-based applications.
When it comes to current plans for air-launched applications, “Lumberjack is the size, the length anyway, of the Small Diameter Bomb. So, we’re looking to be compatible with a wide variety of aircraft, [fixed-]wing and rotorcraft, manned and unmanned,” Bastin said. “Effectively, we’re looking at anything that could carry a Small Diameter Bomb.”
“We’re designing that [Lumberjack] for multiple BRUs. So, a couple different BRU installations are compatible against that sort of Small Diameter Bomb length,” he continued, using the U.S. military-standard abbreviation for Bomb Rack Unit. “We are working with two different customer communities right now, working through large plans and experimentation for next year. So that’s part of our flight test plan that we’re developing for next year.”
The BRU-61/As seen here are one of the racks that exists now for loading GBU-39/B SDBs onto aircraft. A BRU-61/A can be loaded with up to four SDBs. USAF
The GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) is a 250-pound-class precision-guided glide bomb that is just under six feet (1.8 meters) long. Northrop Grumman’s website says Lumberjack has a very similar form factor, but has a maximum gross weight of around 290 pounds.
Lumberjack’s weight is payload-dependent, which Northrop Grumman’s website says could include a “combination of kinetic and non-kinetic sub-munitions, or ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] sensors.” Without any payload or fuel for its small jet engine, the core system, with its composite material structure, only tips the scales at around 79 pounds, according to the product card.
How heavy a Lumberjack might be would also impact its range in both air and surface-launched modes. So far, Northrop Grumman has only said that the system is expected to be able to fly “several hundred” nautical miles. The company has also said that it will be able to cruise at around Mach 0.3 (some 230 knots) at an altitude of 20,000 feet.
This picture gives a good general sense of Lumberjack’s size. Northrop Grumman
“We have done testing with both kinetic and non-kinetic [payloads],” Bastin said. “Hatchet is certainly a candidate. It’s not the only type of kind of sub-munition that we’d be interested in being able to deploy. So, as I said, if customers come with whatever kinetic effect they want, as long as it fits on the center bay, we’re capable of integrating it.”
A Lumberjack releases payloads during a test. Northrop Grumman
Hatchet is a roughly six-pound precision glide bomb that Northrop Grumman currently offers with one of three guidance options: a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS), INS-only, and dual-mode GPS/INS and semi-active laser guidance. Versions that use GPS-assisted INS and INS-only can only be employed against static target coordinates. Laser guidance allows for the engagement of moving targets as long as they can be lazed either by the launching platform or another offboard source.
Each Hatchet has a three-pound high-explosive warhead, which Northrop Grumman claims is of an advanced type that is 50 to 80 percent as lethal as a 500-pound-class bomb, depending on the target type. Point-detonating, delayed, and air-bursting fuze options are available.
When it comes to munition options for Lumberjack, “there’s a variety [of other options] out there. I mean, everything from things like Hatchets to integrating existing artillery shells or custom kinetic effects,” Bastin noted. “So different customers have different interests in terms of what their target is and what their payload would want to be in terms of the kinetic effectiveness against their target.”
Lumberjack is being developed with modularity and adaptability, potentially even under field conditions, in mind. Another company, Palantir, is providing an artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) infused software backend to help with the rapid integration of now payloads and other capabilities, as well as help with “maintenance and reducing operator burden.”
In any configuration, Lumberjack already offers the ability to reach target areas at standoff distances. Its ability to launch unpowered gliding payloads like Hatchet, or even potentially small powered ones, only extended its operational reach. This would all be further magnified by pairing it with an aerial launch platform like the XQ-58. The Valkyrie has its own internal payload bay, said to be able to carry at least two SDB-sized stores, and can also carry payloads under its wings. Lumberjack’s range would also help keep the launching platform further away from threats. A full operational scenario might see a Valkyrie or similar launch platform use its own survivability to get close to an especially high-threat part of the battlespace before launching a Lumberjack, which then delivers munitions into the highest risk area. This could even involve taking out hostile air defense assets that threaten the launching aircraft.
A US Air Force XQ-58 drops an ALTIUS-600 drone from its internal bay during a test. USAF
Lumberjack can also make use of its range for other purposes, including launching kinetic or non-kinetic attacks on geographically separated targets during a single sortie, as well as just loitering in a particular area. Equipped with a stand-in jamming capability and/or sensor packages, the drones could be used to form temporary force protection picket lines, and do so rapidly.
There is also a cost factor, with Lumberjack’s design being focused on a low unit cost and producibility, with a heavy emphasis on commercial and modified commercial components. Another firm, ESAero, which specializes in rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing, is also working with Northrop Grumman on this design.
“For every pallet that I would ship a fixed number of Small Diameter Bombs on, we can ship the same number of lumberjacks on, but each lumberjack performs multiple effects, multiple missions, and can go on multiple vehicles,” Bastin explained. “So it helps drive down that cost, as I said, within a Lumberjack, because we designed it with open architecture and a very modular center bay.”
Northrop Grumman previously told TWZ that it is targeting between a “cost per effect” of $75,000 to $100,000 for Lumberjack, somewhat nebulous figures that factor in things beyond basic unit price. It is also worth noting here that while Lumberjack is intended to be a one-way system when used operationally, work is being done to improve its recoverability when used in training. Being able to reuse the drones for training, as well as test and evaluation activities, would also offer cost advantages.
Lumberjack otherwise reflects a flurry of development, especially in the United States, of longer-range one-way attack munitions, as well as other systems that increasingly blur the lines between traditional drones and cruise missiles, as well as decoys.
If Northrop Grumman keeps to its current test schedule, we may get actual looks at Lumberjacks launched from XQ-58s and/or other aircraft in the coming year.
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Ukraine has unveiled a new version of its Neptune cruise missile, which appears to have added fuel tank ‘bulges’ for increased range. The missile looks to be distinct from the extended-range Long Neptune derivative, imagery of which first emerged earlier this year. Originally designed as an anti-ship weapon, the Neptune family has now become a key means for Ukraine to launch strikes at targets on land inside Russian territory.
Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s defense minister, shared a picture of the new Neptune variant, seen at the top of this story, on social media today in relation to a recent visit by Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene and other Western dignitaries. Other domestically developed weapon systems that Ukrainian authorities have showcased before, including the Peklo ‘missile drone’ and a Magura-7 uncrewed surface vessel (USV) armed with R-73 anti-air missiles, were also put on display for the delegation.
The R-73-armed Magura-7 USV that was also shown to Prime Minister Ruginiene and the other Western officials during their recent visit to Ukraine. Denys Shmyhal/Ukrainian Ministry of Defense
The baseline Neptune, also designated the R-360, is primarily an anti-ship weapon, but has a basic secondary land attack capability. It is itself derived from the Soviet-era Kh-35, variants of which remain in service in Russia and elsewhere globally. Current production Neptunes can be readily distinguished from Kh-35s by the shape of their main fins, which have a distinctive stepped or ‘cranked’ sweep to them. The missile, which is powered by a small turbofan jet engine, has a stated maximum range of 190 miles (300 kilometers), according to the developer, the Luch Design Bureau.
An R-360 Neptune missile. Office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr ZelenskyyRussian forces fire a ground-launched version of the Kh-35 during training. Russian Ministry of Defense
Since 2023, Ukraine has also been employing a land-attack optimized version, which reportedly has a guidance package that combines a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS) and an imaging infrared sensor in place of the original active radar seeker. A Ukrainian defense official previously told TWZ that this variant has a range of at least 225 miles (360 kilometers). There is also the Long Neptune, which we will come back to later on.
The new Neptune variant shown to Prime Minister Ruginiene and the other Western officials has two prominent bulges on either side of the forward body immediately in front of the main fins. Though their purpose is currently unknown, additional fuel tanks are the likely explanation. Adding more fuel would be a relatively straightforward way to extend the missile’s reach without dramatically changing its design. It could also help maintain the weapon’s existing range following the addition of a heavier payload, such as a new warhead, although this is less likely based on what we know about the Neptune design. It is possible that fuel was added here to makeup for a larger warhead, but again, this is the less likely of the two options.
A close-up look at the new Neptune variant’s ‘bulges.’ Denys Shmyhal/Ukrainian Ministry of Defense
It’s possible the fairings could contain something else, but nothing logical comes to mind. Based on what is known of the Kh-35’s internal layout, this portion of the Neptune’s body should otherwise house elements of its navigation system and avionics. The missile’s warhead should be directly in front of that section, with the main seeker then in the nose.
As noted, the missile does not appear to be the Long Neptune derivative, also known as the RK-360L, which has a reported maximum range of 621 miles (1,000 kilometers). Ukrainian authorities released an image of that missile in August, which shows that it is externally very distinct from earlier Neptunes, as well as the new variant that has now been revealed. The Long Neptune is longer overall and has a wider main body, with the tail and nose sections having tapered profiles as a result. The main fins are also bigger and have a straight sweep.
The RK-360L Long Neptune. Government of Ukraine
Extending the reach of the baseline Neptune would offer a new tier of capability between the original missile and the RK-360L, allowing for the latter to be reserved for strikes that make use of their full range. An extended-range variant of the R-360 might also be cheaper and/or easier to produce than the Long Neptunes, or even something that could be created by converting existing missiles.
It’s also worth noting here that increasing the reach of the baseline Neptune could be relevant to expanding Ukraine’s ability to target Russian ships at sea, as well as strikes on land targets.
Existing versions of Neptune have also proven to be especially key weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal for conducting strikes on targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s Navy claims to have successfully struck more than 50 Russian targets with Neptune-series cruise missiles in the past year, according to an interview with the service’s spokesperson, Dmytro Pletenchuk, which Ukrainian newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia published just today.
The expanding Neptune family also reflects a broader push by Ukrainian authorities to step up domestic arms production. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the goal is for 50 percent of all munitions being used on the front lines to be manufactured within the country by the end of the year. Foreign partnerships are part of the plan to achieve this, according to Zelenskyy. It is possible that the ongoing development of the Neptune family, as well as the production of those missiles, may already be benefiting from collaboration with allies and partners.
Hide and seek. Last night, dozens of russian missiles and Shaheds searched for Ukrainian planes and Storm Shadow missiles at the airfields. But it wasn’t until today, in Chonhar and near Henichesk, that the russians finally found them. pic.twitter.com/Ei09qyFwR2
In addition, Ukrainian forces have access to an extensive array of domestically-produced long-range kamikaze drones, as well as munitions that blur the line between those weapons and traditional cruise missiles, like the aforementioned Peklo. The country unveiled a new ground-launched cruise missile, called Flamingo, which reportedly has a range of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers) and a warhead weighing 2,535 pounds (1,150 kilograms), in August, as well. Ukraine also has an active domestic ballistic missile program, but how close it is to delivering a useful operational capability is unclear.
New footage from the launch of the Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missile.
The flamingo is a migratory bird and migrates depending on its species and habitat to find suitable feeding and breeding grounds.
Earlier this year, the U.S. government also approved the delivery to Ukraine of thousands of new and relatively low-cost standoff missiles developed under the Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM) program. There is now talk that Ukraine could receive additional long-range strike munitions from its American partners, possibly including Tomahawk cruise missiles. Tomahawks would give Ukraine a new means to hold any target within roughly 1,000 miles of its borders at risk.
“I’ve sort of made a decision, pretty much,” U.S. President Donald Trump said yesterday in response to a direct question about Tomahawks for Ukraine. “I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them. Where are they sending them, I guess. I’d have to ask that question.”
BREAKING: Trump says he has made a decision on sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
In a post on Facebook yesterday, Yegor Chernev, a member of Ukraine’s parliament from Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party and deputy chairman of the country’s parliamentary committee on national security, raised significant questions about any future Tomahawk deliveries. He specifically called out how long it might take for the missiles to actually be delivered and restrictions American authorities might impose on their employment.
In the meantime, further iterating on the Neptune design continues to offer Ukraine a valuable way to expand its long-range strike capabilities and capacity domestically.
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North Korea has unveiled what it says is a new hypersonic missile dubbed Hwasong-11Ma, designed to be fired from a 10-wheeled transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) that can carry two of the weapons at once. Derived from the earlier Hwasong-11 series of short-range ballistic missiles, the Ma variation has an unpowered boost-glide vehicle on top instead of a traditional warhead and, as a result, is designed to function in a completely different manner.
The Hwasong-11Ma, or a mockup thereof, was among the weapon systems showcased at what has become an annual exhibition of the North Korean military’s latest capabilities this past weekend. Another hypersonic missile design, the Hwasong-8, was a prominent feature at the first of these events in 2021.
The Hwasong-11Ma, among other weapons, on display at the weapons exhibition in Pyongyang this past weekend. North Korean state media
The original Hwasong-11, also known as the KN-23 in the West, is a traditional short-range ballistic missile that can reach out to 430 miles (690 kilometers) and has a 1,000-pound (500-kilogram) class unitary high-explosive warhead. First shown publicly back in 2018, it is now a combat-proven weapon, as well. Russia has been employing them against targets in Ukraine since December 2023. Several other Hwasong-11 variations have already emerged in recent years.
Details about the Hwasong-11Ma, also referred to as the Hwasong-11E, are still limited. From the size and shape of the main body, the new missile looks to be based more directly on the previous Hwasong-11Da/Hwasong-11C version. This would make sense as the Da/C, another traditional short-range ballistic missile, is already an enlarged derivative designed to carry larger warheads than the original Hwasong-11. North Korea has previously said it has tested subvariants of the Da/C type with 2.5-ton and 4.5-ton conventional high-explosive warheads, and that it can also be fitted with a nuclear warhead.
A side-by-side comparison of the Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11E, at left, and the Hwasong-11Da/Hwasong-11C, at right. North Korean state media
In line with its apparent size, Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11E looks to use a similar, if not identical, 10-wheeled TEL as the Hwasong-11Da/Hwasong-11C. The original Hwasong-11 is fired from an eight-wheeled TEL.
A picture of a Hwasong-11Da/Hwasong-11C test launch showing the 10-wheeled TEL. North Korean state mediaA picture of the launch of an original Hwasong-11 from an eight-wheeled TEL. North Korean state media
The Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11E’s boost-glide vehicle is similar, in broad strokes, to other wedge-shaped types that North Korea has shown in the past as payloads for much larger missiles. However, the previously seen designs have distinctly different tail fin configurations from the one on the newly unveiled missile, which also has two long strakes extending on either side from the nose.
Pictures of the wedge-shaped hypersonic boost-glide vehicle designs North Korea has previously shown on the Hwasongpho-16 (at top) and Hwasong-8 (at bottom). North Korean state mediaA close-up look at the Hwasong-11Ma’s boost-glide-vehicle. North Korean state media
In general, hypersonic boost-glide vehicles are unpowered and use ballistic missile-like rocket boosters to get them first to an optimal altitude and speed. They then detach from the booster and follow a relatively shallow, atmospheric flight path at hypersonic speeds, defined as anything above Mach 5, to their targets. Boost-glide vehicles are also designed to be able to maneuver erratically along the way. All of this creates significant challenges for defending forces to detect and track the incoming threat, let alone attempt any kind of intercept.
The North Korean regime’s pursuit of hypersonic capabilities is certainly real and is a clear response to efforts by the South Koreans and their U.S. allies to expand air and missile defenses. The original Hwasong-11, which is very similar in form and function to the Russian Iskander-M and the South Korean Hyunmoo-2 series, itself is reportedly capable of performing a “pull-up” maneuver in its terminal phase of flight to complicate attempts to intercept it.
A side-by-side comparison of North Korea’s original Hwasong-11, at left, and Russia’s Iskander-M, at center, as well as South Korea’s Hyunmoo-2B, at right. via CSIS A side-by-side comparison of North Korea’s KN-23, at left, and Russia’s Iskander-M, at center, as well as South Kora’s Hyunmoo-2B, at right. via CSIS
In principle, Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11Es could offer North Korea a useful additional layer of hypersonic strike capability for use against better-protected targets inside South Korea. Road-mobile TELs would offer additional flexibility, even if the missiles are relatively short-ranged, as well as a way to create complications for opponents trying to find and fix their locations.
“As the U.S. military buildup in the South Korean region intensifies, our strategic interest in the area has also increased. Therefore, we have allocated our special assets to key targets of interest accordingly,” Kim Jong Un said, speaking generally, during remarks at the opening of the weapons exhibition in Pyongyang, according to state media. “Can the South Korean territory ever be considered a safe place? That is for them to judge.”
The Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11E’s development may also reflect lessons learned from Russia’s use of Hwasong-11s in Ukraine. The missile’s initial performance in the war was dismal, but Ukrainian officials have made clear that the Russians and North Koreans subsequently took corrective actions and that it is now a very threatening weapon. Earlier this year, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat also mentioned both the Iskander-M and the KN-23 while openly discussing how the Russians had made further improvements to their ballistic missile capabilities that have put serious pressure on the country’s air defenses.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), via an unclassified Special Inspector General report published in August, confirmed “the UAF [Ukrainian Air Force] struggled to consistently use Patriot air defense systems to protect against Russian ballistic missiles due to recent Russian tactical improvements, including enhancements that enable their missiles to change trajectory and perform maneuvers rather than flying in a traditional ballistic trajectory,” something that TWZ was first to report. The Special Inspector General’s report does not name the ballistic missiles that have proven challenging, but the Iskander-M and the KN-23 are understood to be, by far, the types Russia most commonly employs in strikes on Ukraine.
President Biden @POTUS announced Patriot supplies to Ukraine in December, and these air defense systems are now operational! 🇺🇦 air defense forces now have new and powerful tools to clear our sky of russian scrap metal.
Last week, the Financial Times newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that Russia’s improvements to its ballistic missile capabilities may have notably helped them evade Ukrainian defenses in attacks on at least four drone production facilities this past summer, citing unnamed U.S. and Ukrainian officials.
As it stands now, U.S.-made Patriots are the only air defense systems in Ukraine’s inventory that offer real anti-ballistic missile capability, and then only in the terminal phase. Ukraine’s Patriots are in high demand, in general.
The Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11E also simply underscores the still-growing scale and scope of North Korea’s missile arsenal, overall, when it comes to ballistic and cruise, as well as hypersonic types. As already noted, the Hwasong-11 series has already become particularly prolific, with rail, silo, and submarine-launched variants and derivatives having been demonstrated, in addition to ones fired from wheeled TELs.
It is often the case that North Korea follows up the public debut of new missiles with equally public tests, and more details about at least the Hwasong-11Ma/Hwasong-11E’s claimed capabilities may now begin to emerge.
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The first Japanese warship destined to receive a Tomahawk cruise missile capability is now sailing to the United States for the required modifications. The Kongo class destroyerChokai is at the forefront of Japan’s long-standing ambition to receive the long-range land attack cruise missiles, which it initially plans to field on its Aegis warships, although ground and submarine launch platforms could also follow in the future.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) announced yesterday that the process of reworking Chokai for Tomahawk had begun. On September 26, the warship conducted missile-loading training, involving dummy Tomahawk rounds, supported by U.S. Navy personnel, at Yokosuka Base. The 90 “strike length” Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS) cells on the Kongo class are already long enough to accommodate the Tomahawk.
A dummy Tomahawk round is test-loaded in Chokai by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. Navy personnel at Yokosuka Base on September 26. JMSDF
“The training was conducted to familiarize the ship with the procedures required for Tomahawk operation and to confirm the safety management system,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The following day, Chokai departed Yokosuka for San Diego, California, where modifications and crew training will be carried out. The process is due to be completed by mid-September of next year. Ahead of that milestone, the first Tomahawks are expected to be handed over to Japan before the end of March next year, and it is planned for the destroyer to conduct live-fire tests around summer 2026. These will verify the ship’s readiness and crew proficiency to carry out operational missions.
Chokai departs Yokosuka Base on September 27. JMSDF
The Japanese Ministry of Defense describes the Tomahawk plan as a crash program to supplement its efforts to locally develop new standoff missiles. Once fielded, the Tomahawks will enhance “standoff defense capabilities in order to intercept and eliminate invading forces against Japan at a rapid pace and at long range.” The U.S.-made cruise missiles are planned to be delivered between Japan’s fiscal years 2025 and 2027, which run from April 1 to March 31.
The U.S. Navy began training the JMSDF on the Tomahawk missile launch system in March 2024.
Maya, lead ship of the latest JMSDF class of Aegis destroyers. Japan MoD
The cruise missiles will also be used on the two Aegis System Equipped Vessels (ASEV) destroyers that are under construction. Lockheed Martin announced today that the first example of the advanced AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar system for the ASEV has begun testing at a shore-based facility in Moorestown, New Jersey. You can read more about its capabilities here.
The first AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar system for the ASEV class is tested at a shore-based facility in Moorestown, New Jersey. Lockheed Martin
Returning to the Tomahawk, the U.S. State Department approved the $2.35-billion sale to Japan of 400 of these missiles in November 2023, and a corresponding deal was struck in 2024. This will provide Japan with 200 Tomahawk Block IV and 200Tomahawk Block V All-Up Rounds (AUR) and related equipment.
The deal came after years of talk that Japan would procure Tomahawks to give it a new long-range land-attack cruise missile capability.
The Tomahawk acquisition is a prime example of Japan’s changing military policy, including the fielding of what would previously have been considered ‘offensive’ weaponry.
This has been driven by growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, which have led to Japan increasing its counterstrike capability against potential threats, in particular those from China and North Korea.
The urgency of the situation has seen Japan accelerate its Tomahawk procurement, bringing it forward by one year, after it was originally planned to acquire the missiles in fiscal year 2026. Officials cited the “increasingly severe security environment around Japan” as the reason for this.
Already, the JMSDF’s Kongo class destroyers, like Chokai, are notably well-equipped, although they are primarily air and missile defense platforms. They are outfitted with powerful radar systems and an assortment of surface-to-air missiles, as well as anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons. The addition of Tomahawk missiles will make them much more well-rounded warships, with a very significant offensive capability.
Chokai (front), the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Mustin (back left), and the Murasame class destroyer Ariake steam together during an exercise in the Indo-Pacific region. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Denver Applehans/Released Lt. Denver Applehans
The Block IV Tomahawk can strike targets at a range of almost 1,000 miles, carrying a 1,000-pound unitary warhead. It can be re-routed mid-flight and is also able to loiter over an area to hit ‘pop-up’ targets, using its imaging infrared seeker. Japan is also receiving the Block V Tomahawk, an improved version with survivability upgrades that can also be used to hit moving targets, especially in the long-range anti-shipping role.
Japan is now joining a select group of Tomahawk-operating countries outside the United States.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy uses Tomahawk missiles to arm its Astute class nuclear-powered attack submarines. It also plans to provide a Tomahawk capability on its forthcoming Type 26 and Type 31 frigates.
In December last year, Australia became the third country to launch a Tomahawk missile after the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) Hobart class destroyer HMAS Brisbane successfully test-fired the weapon for the first time, as you can read about here.
A Tomahawk missile fired from Australia’s HMAS Brisbane, moments before impacting its target. U.S. Navy
Since then, the Royal Netherlands Navy launched a Tomahawk for the first time, from one of its De Zeven Provinciën class frigates, HNLMS De Ruyter, off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, in March of this year.
The first launch of Tomahawk from the Dutch frigate HNLMS De Ruyter off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, in March 2025. Dutch Ministry of Defense
While Japan is procuring the Tomahawk as an interim weapon, it will almost certainly continue in service once the country fields its own long-range land-attack cruise missile capability. This is an area in which Japan has been active for some time now, starting with efforts to increase the range of its Type 12 anti-ship missile now in development.
Overall, Japan’s forthcoming introduction of the Tomahawk and its longer-term ambition to field more domestically produced standoff missiles reflect the country’s changing defense posture — including procuring ‘offensive’ weapons that would previously have been off the table. With China flexing its military muscle in the region and North Korea expanding its missile arsenal, Japan’s focus on bolstering its long-range conventional deterrent options will surely continue.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The Black Arrow, also known as the Small Cruise Missile (SCM), flew for more than 400 nautical miles in a test earlier this summer. Leidos disclosed the milestone to TWZ and also raised the possibility of eventually integrating the missile with the MQ-9 Reaper drone and the OA-1K Skyraider II light attack aircraft. As we have discussed in the past, the size and weight of Black Arrow render it suitable for carriage by a wide range of platforms, including drones, while its demonstrated range puts it very much in a class of its own.
Discussing the Black Arrow program with TWZ at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Mark Miller, senior vice president for Missile and Aviation Systems at Leidos, stated that the 400-nautical-mile barrier had been broken in late July, during an envelope-expansion test for the missile carried out from a version of the C-130 transport. Just for context, although wildly different in basic features, that is just under double the range of the original AGM-158 JASSM air-launched cruise missile, and about 70 percent as long as the new extended-range JASSM-ER model. It’s also roughly 10 times the range of an unpowered Small Diameter Bomb.
A pair of Ramp Launch Tubes (RLT) loaded with Black Arrows on the rear ramp of an AC-130J. Leidos screencap
Back in 2021, when U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) issued a contracting notice regarding a Stand-Off Precision Guided Weapon Program Cruise Missile, outlining interest in a weapon of this type, the specifications included a range of between 200 and 400 nautical miles (around 230 and 460 miles).
As well as demonstrating its range performance, the July Black Arrow test saw the missile “navigate several thousands of feet of altitude change,” expanding the envelope compared to prior testing.
Prior testing includes launch from an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship in November of last year, something you can read more about here.
“Key performance metrics included maneuverability, climbing and descent performance, waypoint guidance, navigation accuracy, and — very important —integration with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Battle Management System,” Miller added.
The roughly 200-pound munition has, so far, been tested from C-130 variants but offers the kinds of capabilities that SOCOM is increasingly looking at harnessing. Miller confirmed that the company was now looking at integrating it on different special operations aircraft, including the MQ-9 and OA-1K. Adding standoff strike capabilities to aircraft like these is seen as a critical way to ensure their relevance, especially in more contested airspace.
An MQ-9 Reaper lands on a highway during Exercise Agile Chariot, April 30, 2023, honing capabilities linked to Agile Combat Employment. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Carly Kavish
Notably, adding the Black Arrow to the MQ-9 or OA-1K would create a true standoff weapons delivery platform, meaning that strikes could be launched outside the range of even long-range enemy air defenses.
The first OA-1K light attack aircraft was delivered to the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) earlier this year. U.S. Air Force U.S. Air Force
“Between the modularity, between the relevant testing we’ve done to date, to include integration with a battle management system, we think there’s a pathway to [integrating Black Arrow on] multiple platforms, and we look forward to proliferating it,” Miller said.
Miller said that the fact that the Black Arrow is already being tested “on a government range, on a government aircraft, integrated into a government battle management system” should provide an advantage over other affordable cruise missile designs that are currently proliferating.
So far, the Black Arrow tests have involved “various iterations” of launch tubes on the C-130’s ramp, but future integration on the MQ-9 and OA-1K would require a different launch method. Miller said there is a “clear pathway to multiple different kinds of [launch] configurations, whether it’s pallets, bomb rack units, etc., those are all part of the future discussions for this capability.”
As for pallets, Miller confirmed that the company is working on several concepts, including a modularized container, as well as “other kinds of palletized options … that will obviously vary across platforms as well.”
Miller was not willing to provide a specific timeline update on the program but told TWZ that the Black Arrow is “moving along according to an aggressive schedule.”
Cruciform tailfins deploy as a Black Arrow is ejected from the RLT. Leidos screencap
Meanwhile, Col. T. Justin Bronder, program executive officer-fixed wing at SOCOM, told TWZ that “There’s certainly a need for sort of this type of long-range capability across the spectrum of both SOF and service platforms.” He added: “We’re certainly looking at all options.”
Bronder also reflected upon the specific need to modernize the air-launched weapons available to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) platforms:
“If you look at the suite of munitions in my fixed-wing portfolio, battle-proven munitions in service with the Special Operations community, they’re largely optimized around the type of fight Special Operations have been in for the past 20 years. Fairly benign environments, uncontested, closer ranges. As we look at how to maintain and adapt to keep the Special Operations Forces relevant in these future, contested, and denied environments, something like greater standoff is obviously a key attribute to consider. There’s obviously a number of programs across the department looking at longer-range affordable munitions just for that purpose.”
This briefing slide, shown at the SOF Week conference in May 2024, provided a first image of the Small Cruise Missile/Black Arrow under test. Jamie Hunter
At the Air, Space & Cyber Conference today, TWZ also spoke to Lt. Gen. Michael E. Conley, the AFSOC commander, for his thoughts on arming the OA-1K with the Black Arrow specifically:
“The beauty of the OA-1K is that it’s modular, it’s adaptable, and for a relatively small aircraft can carry a lot of payload. And so in a perfect world, in a resource-unconstrained world, I want to be able to have as big a menu as possible of things that I could hang from a hardpoint on there, or attach as a sensor. So I absolutely see a desire to have [Black Arrow], but not just with OA-1Ks. I’d love to be able to use long-range standoff mission munitions on multiple airframes.”
Conley added that the Black Arrow is, at this point, “the biggest effort we have going right now.”
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Conley, AFSOC commander, steps from an OA-1K as part of a delivery ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Florida, on April 3, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Natalie Fiorilli
The Collaborative Research and Development (CRADA) program for the Black Arrow, then known as the Small Cruise Missile, began in 2022 under an agreement between Leidos, SOCOM, and AFSOC.
Two years later, SOCOM was publicly stating that the Black Arrow was one of its top priorities and could be launched from the MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transport aircraft, as well as the AC-130J, and potentially other platforms.
Now, it seems, we might well be seeing the Black Arrow in the future on the MQ-9 and OA-1K. At the same time, should it prove successful, it’s hard to imagine it won’t migrate to other, more traditional platforms, such as bombers and even fighters.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
India has tested a rail-mobile version of its nuclear-capable Agni-Prime medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM). The development puts India in a small group of nations that have developed this kind of technology, and comes as New Delhi seeks to enhance its conventional and nuclear missile forces amid similar efforts by its two major adversaries, China and Pakistan.
Intermediate Range Agni-Prime Missile was successfully tested on 24 Sep 2025 from a Rail based Mobile launcher. This will be a force multiplier to strategic forces, with a game changer road cum rail missile system pic.twitter.com/bEmDQoHNUf
India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the country’s main military research and development agency, announced the successful test firing of an Agni-Prime from a rail-based mobile launcher system on September 24. The test, which the DRDO says involved a “full operational scenario,” was carried out at an undisclosed site in the country in collaboration with India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC).
Launch of the Agni-Prime from the rail-based mobile launcher system. DRDO
India’s Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh posted on X today: “This successful flight test has put India in the group of select nations having capabilities that have developed a canisterized launch system from an on-the-move rail network.”
India has carried out the successful launch of Intermediate Range Agni-Prime Missile from a Rail based Mobile launcher system. This next generation missile is designed to cover a range up to 2000 km and is equipped with various advanced features.
As seen in publicly released video imagery, the missile launcher is integrated inside a modified boxcar, with clamshell-type doors on the top. Doors on the sides of the boxcar open up to allow the blast from the missile’s rocket motor to vent out the sides. Interestingly, the boxcar appears to be fitted with an extendable arm that serves to move overhead electrical wires. This is an important consideration since almost all of India’s broad-gauge rail network is electrified.
For once I thought nearly 100% of Indian Railways is electrified – so how do you fire a missile from a rail launcher with OHE wires overhead?
The Agni-Prime (or Agni-P) is designed to have a range of between 1,000 and 2,000 kilometers (621 and 1,243 miles). In its road-mobile form, the missile has already been introduced to service, according to the DRDO.
Ultimately, the missile is expected to complement or replace India’s previous Agni-I, with a range of 700 kilometers (435 miles), and Agni-II, which also has a range of 2,000 kilometers. According to the U.K.-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank, India currently has 12 Agni-I and eight Agni-II launchers in service.
The flight test of an Agni P from an island off the coast of Odisha, Balasore, India, on June 28, 2021. DRDO
The rail-based version of the launch system includes the containerized Agni-P missile, as well as an independent launch capability, communication systems, and undisclosed protection features.
There have been suggestions that the rail-based missile test attracted particular interest from China, with the Chinese missile and satellite-tracking vessel Yuan Wang 5 having been noted in the Indian Ocean ahead of the launch.
At the same time, India declared a no-fly zone over the Bay of Bengal consistent with a missile test for September 24–25.
India’s continued efforts to enhance its nuclear-capable missile force come amid China’s rapid military buildup. India also has long-running border disputes with Beijing. Meanwhile, there are continued tensions between India and its neighbor Pakistan, the two countries briefly going to war in May of this year. China and Pakistan maintain close relationships, also at a military level.
According to recent assessments, China has around 600 nuclear warheads, far more than either India (roughly 180 warheads) or Pakistan (around 170).
Pakistani military helicopters fly past a transporter-erector-launcher carrying a Shaheen III ballistic missile, in a military parade in Islamabad on March 25, 2021. Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images AAMIR QURESHI
With its maximum range of 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles), the Agni-P is able to cover all of Pakistan but could also be used to strike targets in the southwest of China. By making the missile rail-mobile, the number of targets within China that can be held at risk is significantly increased.
A map showing the 2,000-kilometer (1,243-mile) range of the Agni-P and its reach into China, based on a launch location in New Delhi. Google Earth
The possibility has also been raised that India might field its Agni-P missiles with conventional warheads, which would follow the practice established for earlier members of the Agni missile family and provide for additional flexibility.
But it’s as a part of India’s nuclear forces that the rail-mobile Agni-P is most significant.
After all, a railcar-based missile launcher offers New Delhi a relatively cheap way of fielding additional ballistic missiles in a way that would make them much less vulnerable to preemptive or counterattacks.
In an operational context, the rail-based launcher would exploit India’s very extensive railway network — around 40,000 miles in all — allowing missiles to be rapidly dispersed in a way that would be challenging for any opponent to detect and monitor. With rail tunnels available throughout India, these would provide ready-made hardened bunkers for the rail-mobile missile launchers to be concealed in. Not only would this make them harder to destroy, but it would also be a major challenge for an adversary to track their movements.
The rail-mobile Agni-P deployed prior to launch. DRDO screencap
In this way, the rail-based Agni-P could be rolled out of a tunnel, fired, and then rolled back into the tunnel or moved to another one very rapidly, making them extremely hard to destroy. They could also be moved around in disguised cars, among other normal rail cars, making them almost impossible to spot for daily operations. At the same time, decoy cars could be produced very easily, further complicating detection and targeting by any adversary.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union fielded a rail-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), known as the RT-23 Molodets, and the Kremlin had also previously planned to reintroduce this capability, with a system called Barguzin, before canceling that project to focus on the Avangard hypersonic missile.
More recently, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in this method of missile fielding. Notably, North Korea has also begun to test-fire ballistic missiles from a railway-based system, as you can read about here. China, too, is developing a rail-based version of its DF-41 ICBM.
A montage of photographs that North Korean state media released from its railway-based missile tests in 2021. North Korean state media
Although a timeline for its possible operational fielding is unclear at this point, the testing of a rail-mobile version of the Agni-Prime is a significant development for India. It’s also one that could have far-reaching implications both for its own strategic forces and for the balance of power in the region.
Media reports and independent monitor describe the latest strikes on Ukraine as ‘one of the heaviest’ since war began.
Published On 28 Sep 202528 Sep 2025
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At least nine people have been reported injured as Russia launched a major drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding region.
An air raid alert was in place over the Kyiv region early on Sunday, with the local military administration saying Russia was attacking with drones and missiles.
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Some Kyiv residents fled to metro stations deep underground for safety as the attack continued in the morning.
Many regions across the country were also under air raid alert, while neighbouring Poland closed airspace near two of its southeastern cities and its air force and allied forces scrambled jets in response.
In a statement posted on X, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia had fired “hundreds of drones and missiles” overnight.
He said the strikes destroyed residential buildings and caused “civilian casualties”.
“We must maximise the cost of further escalation for Russia,” he said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Ukrainian capital was under a “massive” assault and urged people to stay in shelters.
“In total, there are five injured,” Klitschko said on the Telegram social media platform, adding that they had been hospitalised.
An independent monitor described the attack on Kyiv as one of the biggest Russian strikes on the capital and the surrounding areas since the full-scale war began.
The Kyiv Post reported that the total number of aerial targets is still being assessed, but described the latest Russian attack as “one of the heaviest they had ever witnessed”.
Anti-aircraft fire rang out through the night as drones flew over Kyiv.
In the southeastern Zaporizhia region, the governor said Russian strikes there had wounded at least four people.
“Once again, residential buildings and infrastructure are being hit. Once again, it is a war against civilians,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said.
“There will be a response to these actions. But the West’s economic blows against Russia must also be stronger,” Yermak said.
Earlier, Poland’s armed forces said they had scrambled fighter jets in its airspace and put ground-based air defence systems on high alert in response to the Russian strikes in Ukraine.
The moves were preventive and aimed at securing Polish airspace and protecting citizens, especially in areas adjacent to Ukraine, the forces said.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The U.S. Air Force is working to combine an aerial target designed to simulate ballistic threats and a liquid-fuel rocket motor into a new, lower-cost hypersonic missile dubbed Angry Tortoise. The first test launch of the experimental design is expected to come by the end of the year. The project reflects growing interest across the U.S. military in pursuing new avenues to field hypersonic weapons, and to do so affordably, after years of persistent struggles in this realm.
Angry Tortoise broke cover at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference earlier this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. Aerospace firm Usra Major has confirmed to us that a contract it received from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in May, valued at close to $28.6 million, is for this particular effort. Neither the project’s name nor its explicit focus was disclosed at the time, though the expected end result was described as a “tactical flight demonstrator.”
A scale model of the Angry Tortoise missile on display at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference. Usra Major
The Angry Tortoise project “works by leveraging partnerships with commercial companies to integrate their existing technologies into Department of War (DoW) weapon systems, enabling rapid delivery of new capabilities,” according to an information card AFRL had available at the conference this week. “The integrated advancements made through the Angry Tortoise project will provide the warfighter with the ability to deliver quick, precise strikes on both stationary and moving targets, giving military commanders more options to counter threats. The project’s focus on public-private partnerships is crucial to accelerating the delivery of these new capabilities by combining commercial innovation with AFRL’s technical expertise and resources.”
The key element of the current Angry Tortoise design is the 4,000-pound-thrust-class Draper rocket motor, a closed-cycle hydrogen peroxide-kerosene design. Despite being liquid-fueled, Draper can be stored for extended periods of time at room temperature. Most commonly used liquid rocket fuels are volatile and corrosive, which limits how long rocket motors that use them can be left ready-to-fire. This also typically makes them more hazardous to handle after being fueled. This has long made more stable solid-fuel rocket motors attractive for military applications, especially when it comes to tactical weapons, despite the performance advantages liquid-fueled types offer.
The Draper rocket motor design. Ursa Major
Usra Major describes Draper as a “tactical” derivative of an earlier design called Hadley, which uses a more traditional fuel mixture with liquid oxygen as its oxidizer. Hadley is notably the rocket motor that powers Stratolauch’s Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle. Usra Major developed both Hadley and Draper in cooperation with AFRL. The origins of Angry Tortoise lie in these developments.
“It started off as, they had an application [for the rocket motor work] for space access applications,” John Remen, the strategic engagement lead for AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate, told TWZ correspondent Hope Hodge Seck in an interview on the floor of this week’s conference. “We were challenged to look at, hey, we want to change this paradigm in hypersonics and affordable mass, to be able to put more mass on target at low cost, effectively, and so forth. What ideas do you guys have that can do this?”
“And we were, like, hey, you know, this is right in the right thrust class,” he continued. “This is the right size, it’s additively manufactured, low-cost. And so, hey, let’s brainstorm. What could we do in terms of a quick demonstration to show some kind of a tactical missile application?”
Angry Tortoise combines Draper with the front half of an existing rocket called the Economical Target-2 (ET-2), produced by Teledyne Brown, according to an earlier story from Avaition Week. Standard ET-2s, which the U.S. military currently uses to simulate ballistic missiles as part of test and evaluation activities, use solid-fuel rocket motors.
A standard ET-2 is launched during a test. DOD
“So, what we’re doing is basically taking the back half of it [off], and had to use a new outer shell and everything, because we now have liquid propellant tanks on the inside, the thrust take-out for the engine, and so forth,” AFRL’s Remen explained.
AFRL and Ursa Major are now aiming to launch Angry Tortoise for the first time at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in December. The Draper rocket motor has already been hot-fired more than 300 times in ground-based testing.
A static test of the Draper rocket motor. Ursa Major
The expectation is that the missile will be able to reach speeds of up to around Mach 4 or Mach 5, with Mach 5 typically considered to be the boundary between high-supersonic and hypersonic speed. Angry Tortoise is only expected to reach around Mach 2 during its first test flight due in part to the physical limitations of WSMR. Though WSMR is a sprawling range complex, hypersonic systems can fly so far so fast that they often ‘out-range’ even larger facilities on land.
“In 2026, we’re going to fly that system long-range in the Pacific,” Dan Jablonsky, Ursa Major’s CEO, said at the opening to a separate panel at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference.
In terms of the Angry Tortoise project’s immediate goals, it is important to stress that it is presently a science and technology demonstration effort. At the same time, there is a clear eye toward seeing if this is a viable pathway to an operational weapon, and one that could be readily produced at scale at a reasonable price point.
AFRL is hoping to prove out “the performance, the capability, range capabilities, and so forth, just the fact that we can do a low-cost, quick manufacturer [design]. Like I said, it’s additively manufactured, so that speeds up the processes and so forth. You can actually just add a bunch of more machines on the line to put out more systems,” AFRL’s Remen said. For the “space application, might need 20 a year or 30 a year. But the DoD says, hey, no, I need 300 a year. Okay. How can I get that spun up?”
“It’s all TBD of okay, yeah, it was successful, what are we going to do with it from a military standpoint?” he continued. “Our job is to define and help them, help [Air Force] leadership, understand, here’s the art of the possible.”
Ursa Major
Remen said that multiple unspecified commands had expressed interest in Angry Tortoise and the capabilities that could be gained from the project. He also noted that the design could well further evolve and that future iterations might be significantly different, including using solid-fuel rocket motors. As an AFRL project, one would imagine the service is eyeing this as a starting place for an air-launched weapon, but it might be adaptable to ground and/or sea-launched modes, as well.
In terms then of unit price, “it’s really going to go to what are you trying to do, and … what do you consider as a reasonable cost?” he added. “You know, we have a warfighting mission, so I’ve got to win the war. Sometimes it doesn’t necessarily matter how much it costs, because I’ve got to win the war, because losing the war is far more costly than it is to win the war.”
“At approx. 60% additively manufactured, Draper costs significantly less than other hypersonic propulsion alternatives,” Ursa Major also told TWZ in response to queries for more information.
At the same time, Angry Tortoise reflects a frustration with the current state of U.S. hyperosonic weapons development and their costs. “The project’s moniker jokingly references the Air Force’s struggle to keep up with international competitors in the affordable hypersonic missile field,” Aviation Week reported, citing Nils Sedano, a technical advisor in the Space Access Branch of AFRL’s Rocket Propulsion Division.
“I mean, you got your hypersonic missiles, like your HAWCs and so forth, 10s of millions of dollars and such [each],” AFRL’s Remen said. “We’re trying to be a lot lower cost in that, but it also may not be as capable.”
HAWC is the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, a project the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency conducted in cooperation with AFRL, which has fed into the Air Force’s current Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program. HACM, an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile, is expected to fly in the upcoming fiscal year after suffering delays.
To date, this is the only picture the US Air Force has released showing an actual air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile test article related to the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program and/or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s preceding Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) effort. USAF A hypersonic air-breathing air-launched cruise missile design, or a mockup thereof, is seen here in the foreground.This picture is from what the Air Force described as an ‘orientation’ about the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile at Edwards Air Force Base earlier this year. USAF
In its latest budget proposal for the 2026 Fiscal Year, the Air Force confirmed plans to reboot work on the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), which the service had previously moved to shelve following years of checkered test results. The stated plan had been to refocus resources on HACM. ARRW is in a different category of hypersonic weapon from HACM, and is designed to launch an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, as you can learn more about here.
A live AGM-183A ARRW underneath the wing of a B-52 bomber. USAF
U.S. Army and U.S. Navy hypersonic weapons plans have suffered their own significant setbacks in recent years.
The Navy revealed earlier this year that it had halted work entirely on its Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) program, another air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile effort, in late 2024. The service blamed “budgetary constraints” and said it would “revalidate the requirements, with an emphasis on affordability.”
The Army also now has its own program, called Blackbeard, geared explicitly toward accelerating the development, and hopefully fielding, of a lower-cost hypersonic missile.
All of this comes as China, in particular, is at least investing heavily in expanding its arsenal of multiple categories of hypersonic weapons. A number of new designs broke cover ahead of a huge military parade in Beijing on September 3, as you can read more about in TWZ past reporting here.
Various new missiles (ship UVLS launch?) confirmed, my 2c on roles: – YJ-15, ramjet compact supersonic? – YJ-17, waverider hypersonic glide? – YJ-19, ?maybe scramjet hypersonic? – YJ-20, biconical hypersonic/aeroballistic? Possibly seen before from 055..
“As Secretary [of the Air Force Troy] Meink emphasized on Monday, we have to innovate faster,” Ursa Major’s CEO Jablonsky said at the panel this week. “The only way we’re going to be able to maintain our advantage is to innovate, and we have to innovate faster than our adversaries. As we think about the current threat environment, our own arsenal, our own strategic capabilities, we must face the reality that our adversaries are moving faster than we are.”
Ursa Major and AFRL are now presenting Angry Tortoise as one way to try to help change that paradigm.
Regardless of what happened, Russia is ultimately to blame for the destruction because it launched the drones, Poland’s prime minister proclaimed.
Nawrocki “expects the government to promptly clarify the incident in the town of Wyry,” the Polish National Security Bureau (BBN) stated on X . “It is within the Government’s purview to utilize all tools and institutions to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.”
W nawiązaniu do doniesień „Rzeczpospolitej”, informujemy, że Prezydent RP @NawrockiKn oczekuje od Rządu niezwłocznego wyjaśnienia zdarzenia z miejscowości Wyryki. W gestii Rządu pozostaje wykorzystanie wszelkich narzędzi i instytucji do jak najszybszego wyjaśnienia tej sprawy.…
Shortly after the drone incursion became public, Polish officials showed pictures of a house in Wvyry that had been destroyed during the wave of about 19 drones.
“It was an AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile from our F-16, which experienced a guidance system malfunction during flight and failed to fire,” the Polish RMF24 news outlet reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous state security agency source. “Fortunately, it did not arm or explode because the fuse safety devices were activated.”
The publication said a former Polish military intelligence officer emphasized that the damage to the house was caused by kinetic impact.
“There was no explosion, no detonation, as can be seen in the photos of the destroyed house,” Lt. Col. Maciej Korowaj explained.
The AIM-120 has about a 40-pound blast fragmentation warhead.
An AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). (Raytheon)
While still unconfirmed, the RMF24 claim adds new context to initial reports that the remains of an AIM-120 were discovered among debris collected after the Russian drone flights into Poland. At the time, there were discrepancies about exactly where the missile remains were found and questions about who fired it.
“Seven unmanned aerial vehicles and the wreckage of one missile of unknown origin were found,” Karolina Galecka, a spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of the Interior, said on Sept. 10, after the wave of Russian drones subsided.
While the RFM24 report claims an F-16 fired the missile, Dutch F-35s, which also carry AIM-120s, took part in the counter-drone operation, as well.
As TWZ regularly points out, even the world’s best and most proven missiles fail. There are no exceptions to that rule. The rate at which it occurs can vary greatly, but missile technology is imperfect and misrepresented in the media as having almost shield-like abilities that aren’t reflective of reality. There is always a failure rate that must be assumed.
Doczekaliśmy się momentu w którym Polak może w swoim ogrodzie znaleźć resztki naszego albo holenderskiego pocisku powietrze – powietrze AIM-120 C-7 AMRAAM którym strzelano do rosyjskich dronów.
As we stated in our initial report on the drone flights, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that while at least three to four drones were shot down, another three to four appeared to have simply crashed in Polish territory.
On Tuesday, Tusk pointed the finger at Moscow for what happened to the home.
“All responsibility for the damage to the house in Wyrykach falls on the authors of the drone provocation, that is, Russia,” Tusk stated on X. “The appropriate services will inform the public, the government, and the president about all the circumstances of the incident after the proceedings are completed. Hands off Polish soldiers.”
Cała odpowiedzialność za uszkodzenia domu w Wyrykach spada na autorów dronowej prowokacji, czyli Rosję. O wszystkich okolicznościach incydentu odpowiednie służby poinformują opinię publiczną, rząd i prezydenta po zakończeniu postępowania. Łapy precz od polskich żołnierzy.
BBN said that it is working to verify RMF24’s claims about the errant AIM-120 impact in part to ward off Russian disinformation that is a bit part of Moscow’s playbook.
“There is no consent for withholding information,” the bureau explained in its X post. “In the face of disinformation and hybrid warfare, the messages conveyed to Poles must be verified and confirmed.”
Polish Block 52+ F-16C (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)(Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
The bureau also expressed consternation that no official information was provided to the government about the missile claim.
“At the same time, the President emphasizes that he was not informed in this regard, nor was the BBN, and the matter was not presented or clarified at the National Security Council,” BBN noted.
In our previous stories about the drone wave into Poland, we noted that Tusk and other officials say Russia deliberately sent those weapons across the border during a massive attack on Ukraine.
“The Russian provocation was nothing more than an attempt to test our capabilities and responses,” Nawrocki claimed on Sept. 11. “It was an attempt to check the mechanism of action within NATO and our ability to react. Thanks to the wonderful Polish pilots and our allies, Poland, which is in NATO, will neither fear nor be frightened by Russian drones.”
Rosyjska prowokacja była niczym więcej tylko próbą testowania naszych zdolności i reagowania. Była próbą sprawdzenia mechanizmu działania w ramach NATO i naszych zdolności do reakcji.
Dzięki wspaniałym polskim pilotom oraz naszym sojusznikom, Polska, która jest w NATO, nie… pic.twitter.com/HhdW3uAu1T
In response to the incursions, NATO stood up Operation Eastern Sentry to help defend against future such events. The new effort will initially deploy a mixed force of fighter jets and an air defense frigate, but is eventually planned to expand to cover the region between the Arctic and the Black Sea, providing a bulwark against potential Russian drones and missiles. You can read more about that in our initial story about Eastern Sentry here.
It didn’t take long for the new NATO operation to kick in, as jets were launched Saturday in Romania and Poland to counter suspected Russian drones.
Romanian officials said two of its F-16 Vipers were sent aloft to intercept a Russian drone entering Romanian airspace at 6:05 p.m. local time on Saturday during another strike on neighboring Ukraine. The drone was not shot down.
The Romanian response, along with the one in Poland, marked the first activations of Eastern Sentry, a NATO spokesman told us on Saturday.
Whether the Polish home was destroyed by one of the nation’s air-to-air missiles or a Russian drone, the incident highlights the danger presented by drone incursions into an area just outside of an active war zone.
Russia has expressed strong disapproval of Denmark’s plan to establish a production facility for long-range missile fuel for Ukraine, claiming it will heighten the risk of escalation and lead to more violence in Ukraine.
This facility will be run by the Ukrainian defense company Fire Point, known for its Flamingo missiles, which President Zelenskiy has called Ukraine’s most effective weapon. The production site will be located near Denmark’s Skydstrup air force base, which houses F-16 jets.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that this initiative reveals Denmark’s aggressive stance towards Russia. She argued that this move undermines efforts to peacefully resolve the situation in Ukraine and reflects Denmark’s intent to profit from the ongoing conflict.
Denmark has supported Ukraine significantly since Russia’s military invasion in 2022, providing 67.6 billion Danish crowns (approximately $10.6 billion) in military aid, according to its foreign ministry. Zakharova emphasized that this development poses a threat to regional stability and demonstrates a commitment to militarization rather than diplomacy in resolving the crisis.
