- Category
- Defense Tech
Destinus Is Building Nearly 300 Ruta Cruise Missiles a Month—More Than Europe Made in 2022
Prefer U24 Media on Google
- Authors
![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Destinus has increased production of its Ruta cruise missile to nearly 300 units per month—a monthly output the company says now exceeds what all of Europe produced in an entire year before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
More than 1,750 Ruta Block 1 missiles have now been produced, Destinus reported on its official website on October 29.
We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.
Reaching that scale required the company to bring much of the production chain in-house, including engines, airframes, avionics, and guidance systems. That gives Destinus greater control over critical components while reducing dependence on outside suppliers.
One example is the T150 turbojet engine, which produces roughly 1.5 kN of thrust. Destinus manufactures the engine in series for the Ruta Block 1 and also supplies it to other weapons manufacturers.
The company expects its production capacity to be sufficient by 2027 to meet European demand for engines in this class, including orders connected to Ukraine.
Destinus also says its supply chain contains no Chinese components. While sourcing from China could potentially make production cheaper and faster, the company chose to organize manufacturing without Chinese suppliers.
CEO Mikhail Kokorich has said that as missile production scales up, the next challenge for European militaries will increasingly be how to employ such weapons in large numbers.
“To have sufficient deterrence, you need to have tens of thousands of missiles. But the main challenge… is that European customers still need to build the military units and logistic capabilities to operate these big numbers of systems,” Kokorich said, according to Reuters.
Destinus is simultaneously moving beyond the original Ruta.
The company has begun producing Ruta Block 2, a larger cruise missile designed to carry a payload of up to 250 kilograms and fly more than 700 kilometers.
Unlike Block 1, the new missile can be stored, transported, and launched from the same container. The approach is intended to simplify deployment and logistics, particularly when militaries need to stockpile large numbers of weapons.
The Block 2 features a box-shaped fuselage and an integrated folding-wing mechanism that allows the missile to fit inside its transport-launch container.
It also uses a solid-fuel booster to provide initial acceleration at launch.
That means Ruta Block 2 can be fired directly from its container instead of requiring a separate launch rail, making the system easier to transport, conceal, store, and deploy.
Earlier, Destinus accelerated development of the Ruta Block 3 long-range strike missile together with Rheinmetall, aiming to create a 2,000-kilometer-class precision weapon that will be tested in Ukraine.
Discuss this article:
