Ukraine boasts of super duper Trembita missile developed by volunteer engineers

Ukraine decided to build a missile that would be capable of reaching Moscow. The project is known as Trembita — the missile will be called so in honour of the Ukrainian alpine horn. According to available information, the rocket engine was created on the basis of the engine that was first used in the German V-1 rocket in 1944.

Photo: dodmedia.osd.mil by LCPL Seth Maggard, USMC, https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/

HIMARS

"The basic Trembita flies at 400 km/h with a range of 200km. A larger and more powerful model is being developed to reach Moscow. Serial production is set to follow the final field tests," The Economist magazine reported.

The missile is going to be launched into serial production after the completion of final field tests. It took volunteer engineers 18 months to develop the project, the publication said.

The Ukrainian authorities may use the new rocket to intimidate Russia, project manager Sergey Biryukov believes.

"We might miss the target, but we will fly so low over Russian trenches they will shit themselves," Sergey Biryukov, head of the volunteer engineering team said.

Another goal of the developers is to revive the Ukrainian missile industry. Previous attempts to accomplish this goal failed due to corruption, poor funding, Russian penetration and lack of political will. The funding still remains a serious problem for moving in this direction. Kyiv plans to attract Western sponsors, but not all of Ukraine's partners are ready for the new project. Therefore, Ukraine hopes to make new missiles cheaper.

"The Trembita missile, for example, starts at just $3,000 in its decoy variant, and $15,000 complete with a 20-30kg warhead — a bargain in the missile world," The Economist wrote.

It is worthy of note that Ukraine inherited a well-developed missile industry from the USSR. The Satan system, air-to-air missiles and Neptune missiles were created on the basis of that industry.

After Russia's Oreshnik missile attack on Yuzhmash plant in Dnepropetrovsk, Kyiv may have relocated its missile production to other places, but Russia will obliterate them as well just as easily.

Details

The trembita (from the old Germanic trumba, "to trumpet") is a type of an alpine horn made of wood. It is common among Ukrainian highlanders Hutsuls who live in western Ukraine, eastern Poland, Slovakia, and northern Romania. In Poland it is known as a trombita (in the south), a bazuna (in the north), or a ligawka (in central Poland). Trembita is also one of the Ukrainian folk musical instruments.