The russian NPO Mashinostroyeniya design bureau is working on increasing the attack range of the P-800 Oniks anti-ship cruise missile, russian state-owned media report. The updated specifications of the modernized version have not been announced.
Considering the context, what it means is that russians want their missiles to fly farther into the territory of Ukraine, since Oniks has been used solely for this purpose for the past almost two years of russian all-out invasion of Ukraine. Still, there is one more interesting nuance worth attention.
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Prior to the beginning of russian offensive in 2022, some russian media close to the military were insisting that the actual range of the P-800 Oniks is far over the declared 300 km, all the way up to 800 km; as for the official data about 300 km, it allegedly only applies to the export-approved variant of this missile called Yakhont.
Then in 2022, once again, "unofficial sources" pushed the narrative about a new round of development aiming to increase the effective travel distance of the P-800 Oniks up to 900 km. However, the recent announcement refutes those statements twofold: the works on the modernized missile have only just begun, and updated specs are not determined yet.
Thus the capabilities of the upgraded Oniks one could only guess, and they may look as follows. Considering that the missile is already adapted for Bastion-P mobile coastal launchers and ship-based vertical launch pods, a significant change in weight or size of the P-800 is unlikely. Therefore, the modernization will affect the layout of the missile's internal components.
There is also an interesting detail to this modernization project. Media suggest that India has successfully tested the BrahMos-ER, an extended-range version of BrahMos. The range of this weapon, estimated by Western analysts, is 450 to 500 km. The important point is, BrahMos is a product of russian-Indian cooperation, this anti-ship missile was developed out of the P-800 Oniks.
Accordingly, the russian engineers will have to try and repeat the progress achieved by the Indian military industry working on the russian P-800.
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