A Thread on The Troubled Development of the Sapsan Ballistic Missile, Ukraine’s ATACMS. 1/19 I see a lot of people being confused when referring to this system, switching between Hirm, Grom-2 or Sapsan, hopefully this thread will clarify the situation. 2/19

Thread on Ukraine’s Neptune: The Underdog That Struck Back. 1/20 Following the Russo-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreement on industrial, scientific and technical cooperation of the 18th November 1993, the Luch design bureau received an X-35 (Kh-35) missile from Zvezda-Strela. 2/20

🧵A Thread on China’s New Family of Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles: The YJ-18. 1/17 While the genesis pf the YJ-18 is unclear, it seems to originate from the studies launched by the PRC in 2000 to support its A2/AD strategies and counter the Aegis Combat System. CASIC’s Third Academy led the design process for this new class of anti-ship cruise missiles. 2/17

🧵A Thread on the US’ AIM-174B and China’s YJ-12 Carrier Killer Cruise Missile: A Dance of the Vampires with Chinese Characteristics. 1/17 In light of recent events with the unveiling of the US’s new AIM-174B, let’s discuss the threat it’s mostly meant to counter, the YJ-12. 2/17

Chinese Anti-Ship Missiles and the French Connection : the YJ-8 / YJ-83 Family. 1/23 🧵 In the early 1970s, seeking a replacement for their ageing P-15 Termit, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) expressed the need for a new anti-ship missile, kick-starting a new prolific family of Western inspired missiles still in use today. 2/23

The ANS/ANF, the Cold War Franco-German supersonic antiship missile project, a short thread . 1/16 🧵 In the late 70s, the emergence of new Soviet supersonic antiship missiles like the SS-N-22 Sunburn started to worry NATO member states. As such in 1975 the NATO Project Group 16 started to work on a new antiship missile to replace the Exocet and Harpoon. 2/16

🧵Thread on the US Air Force’s cursed stealthy nuclear cruise missile: the AGM-129. 1/28 The tragic story of the AGM-129 is representative of disruptive but troublesome programs like the B-2 or F-22. Designed to fight a bygone enemy, they brought significant improvements in stealth to a post Cold-War world that no longer had a need for them. 2/28

A thread on France’s own Tomahawk cruise missile, Storm Shadow’s big brother: the Missile de Croisère Naval (MdCN). 1/21🧵 On the opening night of Operation Desert Storm on the 17th January 1991, the US launched a massive salvo of 288 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles. This destructive power left a lasting impression on many nations including France. 2/21

Thread on the US Navy’s most elegant missile: AGM-158C LRASM, stealthy AI-powered ship killer. 1/16 In the mid-2000s, the US Navy concluded that the legacy Harpoon would not be enough anymore in light of the worsening security environment at sea, along with the rise of the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy as a credible near-peer adversary. The US needed a new ship-killer. 2/16

Thread on the RIM-8 Talos : the US Navy’s massive ramjet powered, optionally nuclear, guided missile, the Standard Missile’s insane grandfather. 1/27 🧵 The need for guided missiles to defend Navy assets became evident following the use of the German Fritz-X guided glide bomb, sinking the Italian battleship Roma on the 9th of September 1943, damaging the USS Savanah on the 11th. 2/27

Ballistic Missiles Penetration Aids 🧵1/24 Regarding ballistic missiles, especially nuclear tipped ones, the focus is often on their destructive powers and on the questions of deterrence or proliferation, so for a change this thread will dive in the underappreciated world of ballistic penetration aids. 2/24