The estimated price of the new weapon is about 1,000,000 USD.
The authorities of the United Kingdom have announced their intention to create a powerful ballistic missile specifically for Ukraine. This project is called Nightfall and its implementation began last year. What is known about this weapon and when might the Armed Forces of Ukraine receive it?
The British government stated that the new ballistic missile will be able to carry a 200-kilogram warhead over a distance of more than 500 kilometers.
"The missile will provide Ukraine with long-range strikes to counter Russian aggression. The project aims to stimulate the UK defense industry, support innovation and economic growth, as well as enhance support for Ukraine in 2026," the statement said.
As part of the Nightfall project, the UK has announced a competition for the rapid development of ground-based ballistic missiles with a range of over 500 kilometers, intended for operation on the battlefield with a high level of threat and strong electromagnetic interference.
"A secure Europe needs a strong Ukraine. These new long-range British missiles will allow Ukraine to fight further and will make Putin worried," said UK Deputy Defense Minister Luke Pollard.
The head of the British defense ministry, John Healey, stated that London is "determined" to provide Ukrainians with "advanced weaponry" to repel Russian aggression.
The only missile weapon that British authorities have so far transferred to Ukraine is the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles, developed in collaboration with France.
The only ballistic missiles that Kyiv has received from Western allies are the tactical ATACMS, which have a range of up to 300 km and a warhead of 300-500 kg. A small number of these missiles (approximately several dozen) were received by the Ukrainian army from the USA in 2023-24; their stocks are likely already depleted.
At the same time, Ukrainian state and private manufacturers are developing their own ballistic missiles.
In December 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the beginning of the use of Ukrainian ballistic missiles, specifically the operational-tactical missile complex "Sapsan."
There is no confirmed information about the serial production of ballistic missiles in Ukraine.
What the Nightfall Missiles Will Be Like
British authorities report that Nightfall missiles will be able to launch from various ground transport vehicles.
These systems will be able to quickly launch several missiles sequentially within a few minutes, allowing Ukrainian forces to strike key military targets before Russian forces can respond to these strikes.
This is similar to the launch principle of American ATACMS or Russian "Iskander-M" missiles, which are also launched from ground mobile platforms.
It is planned that the British ballistic missiles will have a high-explosive, rather than cluster, warhead weighing 200 kg. The estimated production plan is 10 missiles per month.
In comparison, Russia, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, produces about 60 "Iskanders" per month.
At the same time, the estimated price of the Nightfall missile is stated to be quite low — up to 800,000 pounds, which is about 1 million dollars. This is roughly equivalent to the cost of older modifications of ATACMS missiles.
As part of the Nightfall project, three industrial teams will receive contracts for missile development (the cost of each contract will be 9 million pounds) for the design and delivery of the first three products within a year for test firing.
Detailed requirements for Nightfall were provided to industry partners on December 19, 2025; they signed the necessary confidentiality and security agreements. The deadline for submitting proposals for missile development is February 9 of this year, and contracts for development are planned to be awarded in March.
It is noted that Nightfall is not only aimed at supporting Ukraine, but it will also serve as a basis for future long-range weapon projects for the British army.
Change of Plans
Information about the Nightfall project appeared on the British Ministry of Defense's web resources as early as August 27, 2025.
The tender announcement mentioned the beginning of the development of a ballistic missile and the search for contractors for this work.
"The user needs a cost-effective tactical (>600 km) ballistic missile capable of being safely launched from the ground with a mobile platform in conditions of high tactical threat, with navigation and precise targeting of user-programmed coordinates," the project description states.
In the initial versions of the project, the Nightfall ballistic missile was supposed to be more powerful — 300 kg of explosives instead of 200, as well as longer-range — 600 km instead of 500.
This weapon is supposed to be very accurate, specifically, according to the project, it should be able to navigate without GPS and have a circular probable deviation from the target of only 5 meters.
The flight time is also planned to be short: the missile should hit targets within 10 minutes after launch.
Additionally, all missiles must be launched from a single launch platform within 15 minutes after stopping at the launch site. After launches, the ground transport vehicle/launcher and crew must be able to quickly leave the area, ideally within 5 minutes.
The Ukrainian army has an extremely high demand for ballistic weapons.
The Russian-Ukrainian war has shown that this type of missile is the most effective for hitting targets both deep within enemy territory and near the front line.
The Russian army actively uses its own missile systems "Iskander-M" or air defense systems S-400/S-300, as well as North Korean ballistic missiles KN-23 for these attacks.
The secret to the effectiveness of ballistic missiles is that they have high power, fly towards the target on a complex, almost vertical trajectory at an extremely high speed. Such objects are difficult to intercept by most air defense systems. Only the American Patriot system has demonstrated relatively high effectiveness against ballistic missiles.
In comparison, the speed of the "Iskander-M" can reach 7500 km/h, while the speed of the British Storm Shadow cruise missile is about 1000 km/h.
According to design calculations, the speed of the Nightfall ballistic missile is expected to be around 3000 km/h. However, developing effective ballistic missiles is a long and complex process.
Ukraine has been trying to create and launch into series the operational-tactical missile complex "Sapsan" (also known as "Grom/Grom-2") for almost 20 years. This missile, according to the developers' concept, was supposed to fly a distance of up to 500 km at a speed of 2500 km/h. The weight of the warhead was to be about 500 kg.
In August 2024, President Zelensky reported on the first successful tests of Ukrainian ballistic missiles, and in the summer of 2025, unofficial information emerged about the launch of the "Sapsan" missiles into series.
Plans for the creation of their own ballistic missiles were also reported by a private Ukrainian manufacturer — FirePoint. According to the company's management, serial production of this weapon, namely the FP-7 missiles, may begin as early as May of this year.
As for the British Nightfall missiles, considering that the project is still in its early stages, Kyiv can expect to receive this ballistic capability for combat use at best only by the end of 2027.
And this is the most optimistic scenario.
