Ukrainian Neptune missile modernized, hits targets in Sevastopol Bay – Defence Express

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

"In Crimea, the Konstantin Olshansky SSBN, which had been in Sevastopol Bay for 9 years after being captured by the Russians in 2014, was hit. This suggests that the Neptune missile has been modernized. In the 2021 version of Neptune, its homing radar head could only identify groups of targets, making it a classic anti-ship missile designed to strike ships at sea. However, it was possible to program the missile to target large, small, or medium-sized ships," Katkov explained.

According to the military expert, the Neptune missile was able to hit the target located near the pier in Sevastopol Bay, which is the most protected object.

"The attack that took place on March 24 on the occupied Sevastopol was a combined one. Various means of destruction were used, including cruise missiles. Various large landing ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were simultaneously attacked. The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship was hit. Among this list of various ships that were attacked is the Konstantin Olshansky. We can see that the missiles successfully attacked a variety of targets. It is worth noting that Neptune was able to hit a target that was located near the pier in Sevastopol Bay, which is the most protected object from the point of view of Russian air defense. So we can say that Neptune has been deeply modernized. Obviously, the range of the modernized Neptune missile has become slightly longer than the one officially announced in 2021," Katkov said.

• On the evening of March 23, Russia announced the alleged operation of air defense in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The Ukrainian Defense Forces hit large landing ships Yamal and Azov, a communications center, and several infrastructure facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. Russia also reports damage to transportation infrastructure.
• Following Ukraine's assault on the Black Sea Fleet facilities in Sevastopol, another Russian reconnaissance vessel, Ivan Khurs, may have sustained damage.
• On March 24, the Ukrainian Defense Forces attacked the landing ship Konstantin Olshansky, which the Russian occupiers stole from Ukraine in 2014 during the annexation of Crimea, with a Neptune missile.