missiles

Jan. 12 (UPI) — Britain on Sunday announced it was developing a new ground-launched tactical missile with a range of more than 300 miles to bolster Ukraine‘s defense against Russia’s invasion.

Under Project Nightfall, London seeks to provide Ukraine with what London is describing as “a powerful, cost-effective long-range strike option, with minimal foreign export controls.”

According to Britain’s Ministry of Defense, the missiles will be capable of being launched from a range of vehicles in rapid succession in high-threat battlefields with heavy electromagnetic interference.

The missiles will give Ukraine the ability to rapidly hit key military targets and withdraw within minutes before Russia can retaliate, it said.

“A secure Europe needs a strong Ukraine,” MP Luke Pollard, the minister for Defense Readiness and Industry, said in a statement.

“These new long-range British missiles will keep Ukraine in the fight and give [Russian President Vladimir] Putin another thing to worry about.”

Defense Secretary John Healey announced Project Nightfall after visiting Ukraine on Thursday, when overnight Russia launched large-scale strikes against Kyiv and across Ukraine, including with the reported use of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, one of the few reported uses of such a weapon.

At least four people were killed and 16 injured.

On Sunday, Healey said the attack was proof Putin thinks he can act with impunity.

“We were close enough to hear the air raid sires around Livi on our journey to Kyiv. It was a serious moment and a stark reminder of the barrage of drones and missiles hitting Ukrainians in sub-zero conditions,” he said.

“We won’t stand for this, which is why we are determined to put leading-edge weapons into the hands of Ukrainians as they fight back.”

Ukraine has long called on allies to supply it with long-range missiles in order to strike Russia within its borders.

During Healey’s visit to Kyiv last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he briefed Britain’s defense minister on Moscow’s attempt to “use cold weather as a tool of terror, which is why work on additional air defense capabilities for Ukraine is now an urgent priority.”

“We know which partners have the relevant missiles and equipment, and I am sincerely grateful to the United Kingdom for its readiness to help,” Zelensky said in a statement.

London on Sunday said the new missiles will be able to carry a 440-pound conventional warhead. It will have a high-precision production rate of 10 systems a month and at a maximum cost of about $1 million per missile.

Three companies will each be awarded about $12 million to design, develop and deliver their first three missiles for test firings in 12 months.

Russia is continuing to adapt and evolve its copies of the Shahed-136 long-range one-way attack drone, known locally as the Geran, now arming it with a man-portable air defense system (MANPADS). These are more often referred to as shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles. The development follows a previous version of the drone carrying a single R-60 air-to-air missile, which you can read more about here. It also emerges as Russia makes additional alterations to the drone, including improved line-of-sight control capabilities and self-protection systems.

An example of a MANPADS-equipped Shahed/Geran is seen in recent imagery, including a video, that shows the drone lying in the snow, after it came down intact in Ukraine, reportedly in the Chernihiv region in the north of the country. According to Ukrainian accounts, as well as the rail-mounted missile on the top, the drone is equipped with a camera and a radio-frequency modem.

The missile itself has been widely reportedly as an Igla-S, among the latest models of this widespread MANPADS. Known in Russia as the 9K388, and to NATO as the SA-24 Grinch, the weapon has a maximum range of around 3.7 miles, and improvements over earlier Igla missiles include a more sensitive infrared seeker, a heavier warhead, and an improved fuze.

On the other hand, the inscription on the top of the launch tube appears to read 9K333, which would indicate it is the more modern Verba (SA-29 Gizmo), which was developed as a replacement for the Igla. Its primary advantage is its advanced multispectral seeker, operating in the ultraviolet, near infrared, and mid-infrared bands, for improved discrimination between targets and decoys.

Verba MANPADS

Adapting the MANPADS to the Shahed/Geran appears more straightforward than the R-60, with no need for the launch rail adapter; instead, the MANPADS is simply attached to the drone within its standard launch tube. The complete Igla, for example, is also much lighter: around 40 pounds in its tube, compared to close to 100 pounds for the R-60, minus the launch rail.

Russia started employing Shahed/Geran-type long-range UAVs equipped with air-to-air missiles for combating Ukrainian aviation assets, Ukrainian military radio technology expert Serhii Flash reports.

The remains of a Shahed/Geran-type drone with an R-60 short-range air-to-air… pic.twitter.com/NHBDQQqCK9

— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) December 1, 2025

As for the drone, the original Shahed-136 is Iranian in origin. Multiple variants and derivatives of the Shahed-136, including a jet-powered type, are now produced in large numbers in Russian factories, where they are known locally by the name Geran, the Russian word for geranium. Steady improvements have been made to these drones, including a degree of dynamic targeting capability, as you can read about here.

As we have discussed in the past, adding a heat-seeking anti-aircraft missile to the Shahed/Geran in theory provides the drone with a means to engage Ukrainian fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. At the very least, giving the drone the ability to hit back at these threats offers a deterrent capability. Overall, the effectiveness of this combination is questionable. Particular challenges include the need for a high degree of situational awareness, perhaps requiring cameras around the airframe, and the need to maneuver the drone to get it into a boresight location to achieve a lock-on. However, Russia clearly considers that the adaptation is worth exploring, even just as a deterrent strategy to keep drone hunting aircraft at bay.

For some time now, Russia has been working on a man-in-the-loop (MITL) control capability for the Shahed/Geran, a feature that was confirmed when they started to appear with cameras and cellular modems, something TWZ explored in detail at the time. These developments allow the drone to be connected to an operator. Standard Shaheds fly autonomous routes to pre-planned targets on autopilot with no man-in-the-loop control. They are ‘fire and forget’ weapons.

Meanwhile, the range at which MITL can be achieved has been steadily increased. At first, the drones were adapted to exploit patchy cellular networks to provide additional connectivity when available. More recently, Shaheds have been flying with antennas allowing for direct line-of-sight control close to the front lines. This allows them to hit targets dynamically like an FPV drone, while packing a much heavier punch and being able to loiter for long periods of time. You can read all about this development here. Now, the datalink range is being extended using airborne signal relays, possibly creating a mesh network with multiple line-of-sight links. We are also now seeing Russian drones will Starlink terminals, which could provide a vastly superior beyond-line-of-sight capability and could prove to be a big problem for Ukraine if Russia can produce such a configuration in large volumes. These developments are now blurring the classification of the Shahed/Geran from its original long-range one-way attack drone to a loitering munition, with an onboard imaging capability.

Potentially, a Shahed/Geran armed with a MANPADS or an R-60 could use beyond-line-of-sight capabilities to operate the missile. But bearing in mind we know Russia is using the drones closer to the front lines, this would need only a line-of-sight link with operators near the front, or at least by receivers/transmitters placed there. Drone controllers behind the lines could also ‘pick them up’ once in the area, but such an operation is far more complex and fraught with additional risks.

Nevertheless, target acquisition and engagement of a missile-armed drone is still far from straightforward. It’s likely that the modern seeker used by the Igla-S or Verba makes it easier to engage aerial targets, compared to the R-60, with a reduced need to ‘point’ the drone directly at the target. Still, the operator would have to trigger the launch of the missile after receiving the signal indicating a lock-on has been achieved.

At the same time, the Shahed/Geran remains a slow and not particularly agile launch platform, and certainly not one that was designed with air-to-air combat in mind. Adding a top-mounted missile likely also degrades its maneuverability and affects its stability, but less than would be the case with an R-60.

When it comes to finding aerial targets, the most likely scenario involves operating entirely reactively to what is seen visually on cameras around the drone or otherwise searching for targets of opportunity. Another option would involve the drone operator receiving target information from offboard assets, where applicable, but this seems less likely.

Bearing in mind the performance of the Shahed/Geran and the range of the MANPADS, the most likely targets would be the Mi-8/Mi-17 Hip series armed transport helicopters and the Mi-24 Hind series gunships that are routinely tasked with counter-drone missions. We have already seen that lower and slower-flying helicopters face a notable risk from relatively small kamikaze drones that simply fly into them. Ukrainian F-16s, MiG-29s, Su-27s and Mirage 2000s have also been tasked heavily as ‘Shahed hunters,’ but engaging fighters with these weapons would be even tougher. Still their very existence would add a credible threat to fighters approaching them.

Footage showing the door gunner on a Mil Mi-8 Multirole Helicopter with the Ukrainian Air Force using his M134 Minigun to shoot down a Russian Shahed-136 Attack Drone. pic.twitter.com/UWBd8QUXEf

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 12, 2025

While it remains to be seen just how effective the combination of Shahed/Geran with a MANPADS (or R-60) is, these developments reflect a previous precedent for arming drones with air-to-air missiles. The deterrent effect of this can be seen in at least one instance from 2002, when a U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator drone fired a Stinger heat-seeking anti-air missile at an Iraqi MiG-25 Foxbat fighter that was trying to shoot it down, which can be seen in the video below.

Dogfight between MQ-1 Predator drone and Mig-25 Foxbat.mp4

These measures are also indicative of efforts being made by Russia to better defend the Shahed/Geran drones. Another recent development involves the apparent addition of infrared countermeasures to defeat drone interceptors and possible missiles fired by fighters. Attached to the rear of the drone’s stabilizing endplates, these appear to employ electrically heated cylindrical blocks to generate blooming infrared energy, like the Hot Brick system.

Ukrainian military radio technology specialist and consultant Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov reported that Russian Geran-2 drones are now capable of blinding interceptor drones and aircraft.

According to him, the Russians are equipping their strike UAVs with infrared searchlights.… pic.twitter.com/dtpnbKIklE

— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) January 3, 2026

For now, we have no evidence of a missile-equipped Shahed/Geran attempting to engage a Ukrainian aircraft, let alone bringing one down. However, having long-range one-way attack drones fitted with air defense missiles provides another complicating factor for Ukraine and illustrates the continued modifications being made to these weapons.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

The missile test comes as President Lee Jae Myung arrives in Beijing to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, their second in two months.

North Korea has launched multiple ballistic missiles off its east coast into the sea as South Korea’s leader begins a state visit to China in its first barrage of the new year.

According to South Korea’s military, the missiles launched at about 7:50am on Sunday (22:50 GMT on Saturday) flew about 900km (560 miles).

The military added that the country, as well as the United States, was “closely analysing the specifications” while “maintaining a full readiness posture”.

In a statement, the US forces for the Asia Pacific said the missile launches did not pose an “immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies”.

Japan also reported that at least two missiles had reached distances of 900km (560 miles) and 950km (590 miles).

“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development threatens the peace and stability of our country and the international society, and is absolutely intolerable,” Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters.

The last time Pyongyang tested its ballistic missiles was on November 7.

According to North Korean state media, leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday called for the doubling of production capacity of tactical guided weapons while visiting a munitions factory.

In recent weeks, Kim has visited a series of weapons factories and a nuclear-powered submarine, overseeing missile tests in advance of the ninth party congress of the Workers’ Party, which will take place later this year and set out key policy goals.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told the Reuters news agency the launches from Pyongyang represented “a message to China to deter closer ties with South Korea and to counter China’s stance on denuclearisation”.

Lim added that it was North Korea sending a message of strength that they were different from Venezuela, after the US launched a series of attacks on Saturday and “captured” President Nicolas Maduro.

China visit

On Sunday morning, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had arrived in Beijing on a four-day visit.

Lee, accompanied by more than 200 South Korean business leaders, is expected to discuss supply chain investment, the digital economy and cultural exchanges.

The South Korean leader will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for their second meeting in just two months. According to analysts, the short frequency of the meetings signals Beijing’s interest in increasing economic collaboration and tourism.

Seoul has said peace on the Korean Peninsula would be on the agenda during the Beijing trip.

Lee’s trip comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that her country’s military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan.

Before his trip, Lee gave an interview to CCTV, in which he assured that South Korea consistently respects the “One-China” policy when it comes to Taiwan. He said the healthy development of Beijing-Seoul relations depends on mutual respect. Lee also praised Xi as a “truly reliable neighbour”.

Kim Jong Un urges ‘unlimited and sustained’ development of nuclear combat forces as North Korea gears up for a key party congress.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a test launch of long-range strategic cruise missiles and called for the “unlimited and sustained” development of his country’s nuclear combat forces, according to state media.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday that Kim expressed satisfaction as the cruise missiles flew along their orbit, set above the sea west of the Korean Peninsula, and hit their target.

The launch, which took place on Sunday, was the latest event Kim attended, in a flurry of activity by the North Korean leader to underscore the country’s military and economic progress before a key party congress expected to be held in early 2026.

The meeting will set a development plan for North Korea for the next five years.

Kim said that “checking the reliability and rapid response of the components of [North Korea’s] nuclear deterrent on a regular basis … [is] just a responsible exercise”, as the country “is facing various security threats”. He also affirmed that Pyongyang would keep devoting “all their efforts to the unlimited and sustained development of the state nuclear combat force”, KCNA reported.

KCNA did not specify the area in which the missiles were launched.

South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap reported on Monday that South Korea’s military detected the launch of multiple missiles from the Sunan area near Pyongyang on Sunday morning.

It warned that North Korea may conduct additional missile tests at the end of the year.

Separately, the KCNA reported on Thursday that Kim also inspected an 8,700-tonne “nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine” under construction and warned that South Korea’s plan to build nuclear-powered submarines will be a threat to North Korea’s security that “must be countered”.

It was the first time North Korean state media had released images of the submarine since March, when they mostly showed the lower sections of the vessel.

During the Thursday event, Kim was accompanied by his daughter, a possible successor, and oversaw the test-firing of long-range surface-to-air missiles.

Kim has attended multiple openings of facilities, including factories and hotels, during the past month, as the country races to wrap up its current “five-year plan” of development before convening the ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in early 2026.

Last November, North Korea also staged a ballistic missile test, just more than a week after United States President Donald Trump, on a tour of the region, expressed interest in meeting with Kim. Pyongyang did not respond to the offer.

At that time, Trump had just approved South Korea’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine.

Since Kim’s 2019 summit with Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief, Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.

Kim has since been emboldened by Russia’s war on Ukraine, securing critical support from Moscow after sending thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces.

The U.S. Navy has confirmed to TWZ that the armament package for its first “flight” of its new FF(X) frigates will not include a built-in Vertical Launch System (VLS). There had been widespread questions about whether the ships would include a VLS array after renderings were released with no such feature readily apparent.

A lack of any type of VLS on the FF(X) design is a glaring omission that can only raise questions about the operational utility and flexibility of the ships. At the same time, the new frigates will be able to carry modular payloads, including containerized missile launchers, on their sterns. The Navy also has an explicit plan to employ the FF(X)s as “motherships” for uncrewed surface vessels (USV), likely offering a distributed arsenal, as well as additional sensors, for the frigates to leverage during operations.

The Navy announced its plan to acquire a fleet of new FF(X) frigates last Friday, which followed the cancellation of the abortive Constellation class program earlier in the month. The service previously confirmed that the FF(X)s will be based on the Legend class National Security Cutter (NSC), which Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) first developed for the U.S. Coast Guard.

“The initial flight of FF(X) will have a 57mm gun, 2 x 30mm guns, a Mk 49 Rolling Airframe Missile [launcher], various countermeasures, and a flight deck from which to launch helicopters and unmanned systems. Aft of the flight deck, there will be a flexible weapons system, which can accommodate containerized payloads (Counter-UAS, other missiles),” a Navy spokesperson told TWZ today. “Much like the successful DDG-51 [Arleigh Burke class destroyer] program, we are building this in flights. The frigate will be upgraded over successive flights to evolve and has the space reservations needed to improve capability over time.”

“The goal is to get [FF(X)] hulls in the water ASAP,” another Navy official told TWZ. “Minimal design changes will be incorporated into the first flight so that we can get hulls into the water as soon as possible.”

“The [FF(X)] design changes are in the process of being finalized and we are confident that our extensive experience and collaboration with the U.S. Navy will lead to a successful approval process,” a HII spokesperson also told us. “Specific and targeted changes will be implemented to meet unique mission requirements. The process will be similar to a baseline upgrade on the DDG program, which has been successfully used to introduce new capabilities multiple times over the class’ history. Design work is ongoing and we understand the Navy’s intent is to minimize changes in order to expedite procurement.”

As we mentioned in our initial reporting on FF(X), the size of the Mk 41 VLS array on the previously planned Constellation class frigates was a hot topic of debate. Questions had been raised whether the 32-cell VLSs on those ships would be sufficient to meet their expected operational taskings, as you can read about more in this past TWZ feature.

Overall, the Mk 41 VLS requirement was central to the FFG(X) program that led to the Constellation class design. This was viewed as a key element of righting the wrongs of the Navy’s chronically underperforming Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. The Independence class and Freedom class LCSs both lack a VLS array. In addition, it’s worth remembering here that HII’s losing FFG(X) bid was notably a Patrol Frigate concept derived from the National Security Cutter that featured a VLS. The company had also pitched other VLS-equipped Patrol Frigate variations to the Navy before then, as seen in the video below.

Patrol Frigate Variants – Information Video

Integrating a VLS into future flights of FF(X) frigates is certainly an option, but one that could be complex and costly if the design is not configured to accommodate one to begin with. As TWZ previously highlighted, the FF(X) configuration, as it has been seen so far, has a significantly redesigned main superstructure compared to the Coast Guard’s Legend class and previous Patrol Frigate concepts. This includes a prominent ‘shelf’ that extends forward into the space on the bow utilized for VLSs on previously seen Patriot Frigate configurations. With what we know now, that extension seems more likely to be utilized in the future as a mounting place for some type of point defense system, possibly even a laser directed energy weapon. It’s possible it could be adapted to accommodate a small VLS array in the future, as well. The lack of an integrated VLS could explain the lack of a more advanced radar in the renderings of the FF(X) that have been shown so far.

Installing missile launchers on the FF(X)’s fantail would give the ships a boost in firepower in the absence of an integrated VLS array. Renderings so far have shown what look to be launchers for up to 16 Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) installed in that position. NSM is an anti-ship cruise missile with secondary land-attack capability that the Navy has already integrated onto a portion of its LCSs and at least one Arleigh Burke class destroyer, and that the Marine Corps is fielding now in a ground-based configuration. There also looks to be space there for a least one containerized Mk 70 Payload Delivery Systems (PDS), another capability the Navy is already acquiring. Each Mk 70 contains a four-cell launcher derived from the Mk 41 VLS, and similarly capable of firing a variety of weapons, including SM-6 multi-purpose missiles and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. FF(X)s could also leverage sensors on larger crewed warships for targeting purposes when operating as part of a surface action group.

“The FF(X) will be designed to command groups of unmanned vessels, acting as a sort of ‘mothership,’ providing the commander tailored force packages based upon the weapons and sensors fielded on those unmanned craft,” a Navy spokesperson also told TWZ today.

In this way, an FF(X) could still call upon a deeper and more flexible array of weapon options without having to have a VLS integrated directly onto the ship. The uncrewed platforms would also be able to operate across a much broader area than any single crewed frigate and present a different risk calculus for operating in higher-risk environments. All of this would expand the overall reach of the combined force and present targeting challenges for opponents. But there are also substantial development and operational risks with this kind of arrangement. As it sits, this kind of autonomous vessel and manned vessel teaming is still in development. Operationally, leaving the ship without, or with very limited, area defense capability is at odds with many future threat scenarios.

The Navy is already separately pursuing a family of larger uncrewed surface vessels (USV) able to carry an array of containerized payloads to bolster the capability and operational capacity of its crewed surface fleets as part of a program called Modular Surface Attack Craft (MASC), which you can read more about here.

Even with all this in mind, the lack of a VLS still raises significant questions about the FF(X) plans, especially about the ability of the ships to operate more independently. This has been a key issue for the Navy’s existing LCS fleets, and one that the Constellation class was supposed to help address.

Omitting a VLS capable of at least employing Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) imposes particular limitations on the ship’s ability to defend itself against aerial threats. Navy experiences during recent operations in and around the Red Sea have served to put a notable spotlight on the ever-growing dangers posed by anti-ship missiles and drones, which would be far more severe in any future high-end fight in the Pacific. All of this also means FF(X)s will not be able to provide area defense for convoy operations without a modular containerized payload, and that would only offer a very limited supply of munitions compared to a highly efficient VLS array.

The Navy is also clearly focused on just trying to get more hulls into service as quickly as it reasonably can. The service has major operational demands for more surface warships, in general, and now has an additional gap to fill following the collapse of the Constellation class program. The goal is for the FF(X) to be launched in 2028.

“We will start as soon as a funding contract and material are available,” the HII spokesperson told TWZ today. “We are confident in our ability to launch the first ship into the water in 2028, then conduct final outfitting, systems activation, and testing before delivering to the Fleet.”

HII also plans to leverage materials already acquired under the Coast Guard’s Legend class National Security Cutter program to help accelerate work on the first FF(X) hull. The current timeline for that ship to enter operational service remains unknown.

Overall, just how aggressively the Navy is moving to get these new frigates into the fleet as fast and cheaply as possible is now clear with today’s news. While expanded variants in the future with VLS arrays and more exquisite combat systems seem like a real possibility, when it comes to installed armament, America’s next frigate is set to be just as lightly armed as the LCS that came before it.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com