For the first time in over 50 years, the United Kingdom has signed contracts with several companies to develop its first ballistic missile to support Ukraine and reduce Europeʼs dependence on American weapons.
Bloomberg writes about this, citing sources.
According to the interlocutors, the British Ministry of Defense has simplified technical requirements to speed up development and transfer weapons to Ukraine in 2027. Defense companies participating in the “Nightfall” program must successfully conduct tests before receiving contracts to produce missiles.
The preliminary contracts were expected to be signed by March, but their signing has been delayed by about two months. Test launches are due to begin within 12 months, with deliveries scheduled for late 2027. Bloomberg notes that the development and deployment of ballistic missiles typically takes more than a decade.
The “Nightfall” project initially envisaged a missile with a range of over 600 km, a 300 kg warhead and a cost of less than $674 000. However, this figure did not include the cost of the warhead, launcher and development costs. After analysis by industry representatives, the parameters were changed to a range of 500 km, a 200 kg warhead and a maximum cost of £800 000 (approximately $1.08 million) per missile.
On July 13, 11 states, together with Ukraine, created the “Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition”. It involves the development of a joint FREYJA missile defense system. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that within a year, FREYJA will be in operation.
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