Ukraine has for the first time shown the launcher for its homegrown Koral surface-to-air missile, a new air-defence weapon being developed to tackle both aircraft and ballistic targets. The system was displayed at the MSPO defence exhibition in Poland on September 8, according to Ukrainian defence outlet Militarnyi.An image released by Ukraine’s state defence industry showed a Koral missile being launched from a self-propelled platform mounted on a Czech-made Tatra truck. The missile is primarily designed to intercept aerial threats, including ballistic targets. Its developers say it could also be used in limited circumstances against radar-detectable targets on land or at sea.The latest version of Koral weighs around 450 kg and carries a 36-kg warhead. It is 4.8 metres long, with a body diameter of 230/300 mm. Its guidance system combines inertial navigation, radio-command updates and an active radar seeker. This allows the missile to receive corrections during flight before using its own radar to guide itself towards the target in the final stage.The weapon is the result of a project that has changed considerably since it was first presented. Development began in 2016, when Koral was proposed as part of a ship-based air-defence system.The latest design is longer and roughly 50% heavier than that early version, while its warhead has increased from 25 kg to 36 kg. Ukraine has not publicly disclosed the current missile’s maximum range, according to a United24 Media report.Koral was initially planned as part of a wider family of Ukrainian air-defence systems covering different ranges. Its developers had also explored versions for land and naval use, as well as a possible air-to-air variant.The unveiling comes as Ukraine continues efforts to strengthen its domestic air-defence capabilities amid the ongoing war with Russia. The new Koral configuration shows how the project has evolved from an earlier medium-range concept into a system intended to address a wider range of aerial threats.
