Ukraine Reveals Secret Finnish-Made RBS-15 Missile System Used to Strike Russian Black Sea Platform

Ukraine has publicly revealed for the first time a previously undisclosed Finnish-made RBS-15 coastal anti-ship missile system, confirming that the weapon was used in an April strike against the Russian-controlled Sivash offshore drilling platform in the Black Sea.

According to Militarnyi on July 5, the system was shown during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s working visit to the Odesa region, alongside other coastal defense assets protecting Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline.

The launcher displayed by the Ukrainian Navy appears to be a Finnish-operated variant of the Swedish-designed RBS-15 system. Militarnyi reported that its camouflage pattern matches launchers previously used by the Finnish Navy. Neither Finland’s Ministry of Defense nor the Finnish government has officially announced transferring the system to Ukraine.

According to Militarnyi, the coastal missile launcher is mounted on a Finnish-made Sisu SK242 truck chassis and carries four launch containers for RBS-15SF (Mk2) anti-ship missiles, designated MTO 85 in Finnish service.

The outlet reported that Finland upgraded the missiles during the 2000s to the MTO 85M standard, incorporating elements of the RBS-15 Mk3 variant. The modernization added GPS-assisted navigation and improved electronic counter-countermeasure capabilities designed to increase resistance to electronic warfare.

The RBS-15 missile is approximately 4.35 meters long, weighs between 770 and 820 kilograms at launch, and carries a 200-kilogram semi-armor-piercing high-explosive fragmentation warhead. It flies at roughly Mach 0.9.

According to Militarnyi, the original Mk2 version has a maximum range of about 70 kilometers, while the upgraded MTO 85M variant is reported to exceed 100 kilometers.

The Ukrainian Navy first demonstrated what was believed to be the combat use of RBS-15 missiles on April 6, when it released footage showing a strike against the Russian-controlled Sivash drilling platform in the Black Sea. At the time, the missile type had not been officially identified.

Militarnyi also reported that the same presidential visit included the first public display of Ukraine’s Harpoon and Naval Strike Missile (NSM) coastal defense systems. As with the RBS-15, no official announcements had previously confirmed deliveries of the NSM system to Ukraine.

During President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the Odesa region, the Ukrainian Navy also publicly unveiled its US-supplied Harpoon coastal defense missile system for the first time since its delivery in 2022.

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