Britain promises to produce new 500 km range ballistic missiles for Ukraine
The UK Ministry of Defence has announced its intention to arm Ukraine with its tactical ballistic missiles, which are still under development, BBC writes .
"The United Kingdom will develop new tactical ballistic missiles that will enhance Ukraine's firepower and its ability to defend itself against Putin's war machine," the government said in a press release published on Sunday.
The missiles in question are ballistic missiles with a range of over 500 km and a warhead mass of about 200 kg, the development of which Britain announced last year as part of "Project Nightfall".
"Nightfall missiles will be launchable from a variety of ground platforms, rapidly firing multiple missiles in quick succession and retreating within minutes – allowing Ukrainian forces to strike key military targets before Russian forces can respond," the statement notes.
In December, the UK Ministry of Defence announced a tender for the development and creation of the first prototypes of such weapons.
Applications are accepted until early February, after which, in March, three selected companies will receive £9 million each to develop test-ready missiles within a year.
Britain then expects to produce 10 missiles per month, with the cost of each, according to plans, not exceeding £800,000 ($1.072 million).