A missile stealthily infiltrated the naval port in the dead of night, precisely striking a Chinese frigate! The same type of missile sank the Russian "Moscow" guided-missile cruiser four years ago!
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate stated that on the morning of September 9 local time, Ukraine carried out a joint firepower operation and hit the Russian Navy's "Admiral Essen" missile frigate.
Ukrainian Navy claimed that Ukraine used the "Neptune" anti-ship missile to attack the "Admiral Essen" frigate. If true, this would mark another major loss for the Russian Navy. It means Ukraine’s "Neptune" missile has now successfully hit Russia’s main warships twice. In April 2022, just two months after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet—the "Kresta"-class "Moscow" guided-missile cruiser—was sunk by a Ukrainian "Neptune" missile.
However, the maximum range of the Ukrainian "Neptune" missile is only 280 kilometers, while the Russian port of Novorossiysk is over 1,000 kilometers away from Ukraine’s Odesa coastline. How did Ukrainian forces manage to launch a missile and hit the Russian frigate?
The answer lies in an upgraded version of the "Neptune" missile—the "Super Neptune" (Neptune-D), with a range extended to 1,000–1,300 kilometers, perfectly capable of reaching the Russian port of Novorossiysk from Ukraine. The Neptune-D is an extended-range, subsonic, ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming anti-ship missile. Its warhead weighs 260 kilograms. The missile body features a conformal fuel tank added mid-body, powered by a small turbojet engine and equipped with a high-precision radar altimeter. During cruise flight, it flies at just 50 meters above sea level, dropping to only 10 meters during terminal phase, approaching supersonic speed. With such characteristics, it is extremely difficult for the Russian Navy to detect and intercept.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875944788885504/
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