Ukraine publicly displayed the Coral SAM launcher for intercepting cruise and ballistic missiles for the first time

Ukraine publicly showed the launcher of the Coral surface-to-air missile system, designed to intercept cruise and ballistic targets, for the first time. Footage of a missile launch was released during the MSPO defense exhibition in Poland. The missile was mounted on a self-propelled launcher on the chassis of a Czech Tatra truck. The system is planned for use as part of Ukraine’s air defense and, if necessary, for striking ground or surface targets.

Images of the missile launch were released by Ukroboronprom, and the launcher demonstration was reported by a correspondent of Military. The Coral missile is positioned as a means to intercept aerial and ballistic targets and is planned to be integrated into the air defense system.

The missile has a mass of 450 kg, of which 36 kg is the warhead. Its guidance system combines an inertial navigation system, radio correction, and an active radar seeker. The missile’s diameter is 230/300 mm, its length 4,8 m. The wingspan is 835 mm, and the tail span is 685 mm.

How the Coral project developed

Experimental design work on the Coral project began in 2016. At that time the missile project appeared in documents as part of a ship-based air defense missile system. Coral was widely discussed publicly in 2021, when the State Kyiv Design Bureau Luch (DKKB Luch) presented a full-scale mock-up of the missile at the Arms and Security-2021 exhibition. It was then positioned as a unified modular missile to be used in both land-based and ship-based SAMs, and potentially as an air-to-air missile.

At the initial stage, Coral had much more modest stated characteristics: a range of up to 30 km, an engagement altitude up to 10 km, a mass of about 300 kg and a warhead weight of 25 kg. The missile’s length was 4,33 m, diameter 230/260 mm. Engineers emphasized that specific characteristics could change depending on customer requirements.

In 2021, the chief designer of DKKB Luch, Oleg Korostelov, evaluated the system’s readiness at approximately 70%.

“Coral must be able to engage ballistic targets. Of course, not all classes, but it must work against ballistic targets,” said Luch chief Oleg Korostelov.

At that time Luch was also considering creating a whole line of Ukrainian SAMs with engagement ranges of about 10 km, 30–40 km, and up to 100 km. Coral was to occupy the mid-range niche in that system.

Earlier, Informator wrote that among the priorities for 2024 the Ministry of Defense named strengthening air defense, including refining the Coral surface-to-air missiles for equipping the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Havryliuk, attention at that time was to be focused on producing air defense means—from man-portable systems to systems with ranges of over a hundred kilometers. We also wrote that Ukraine could become the third country in the world to produce missiles for Patriot systems, receiving the relevant license from the United States. However, experts estimate that building a domestic production of air defense missiles could take several years even with the necessary technologies.