Ukraine Unveils New Air Defense Missile to Replace Soviet Osa-AKM Stocks

Ukraine has unveiled a new domestically produced air defense missile designed to replace dwindling Soviet-era ammunition for its Osa-AKM systems, according to Ukrainian media. The RK-19 missile, developed by Ukraine’s state defense industry and displayed at the MSPO defense exhibition in Poland, is designed to replace the Soviet 9M33-series missiles currently used by Ukraine’s Osa-AKM air defense systems, Militarnyi reported.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The missile was first publicly revealed in April 2026 in a video address by President Volodymyr Zelensky marking Ukraine’s Day of the Defense Industry Worker. The RK-19 can intercept aerial targets at distances of up to 10 kilometers and altitudes of up to 5 kilometers. It has a maximum speed of 600 meters per second and uses a radio-command guidance system similar to that of the Soviet missiles it is intended to replace. The missile and its launch container weigh 163 kilograms combined, while the warhead weighs 14.3 kilograms. Filling a Soviet-era gap The Osa-AKM is a Soviet-designed, all-weather surface-to-air missile system used by Ukraine to protect troops and critical infrastructure from aircraft and cruise missiles. Each Osa-AKM launcher carries six 9M33M3 missiles. Those missiles can engage targets at ranges of up to 10 kilometers and altitudes of up to 5 kilometers, with a maximum speed of around 500 meters per second. The development of the RK-19 comes as Ukraine faces a growing shortage of air defense ammunition. Other Topics of Interest How Russia Is Trying to Paralyze Kyiv Without Occupying It Russia is dispersing faster drone attacks across the day and night and turning air alerts into a weapon against Kyiv’s economy, infrastructure, and population. Zelenskyy said in August that deliveries of air defense missiles had fallen threefold compared with 2025, with the decline extending beyond the summer to earlier months of the year. Ukraine has increasingly turned to domestic production and cheaper interception technologies as it seeks to conserve scarce air defense missiles. Brave1 defense-tech developers, for example, have recently demonstrated technology designed to intercept Russia’s Bundel drone-missiles at a substantially lower cost than the incoming weapons. The RK-19 could provide Ukraine with a domestically produced replacement for a key Soviet-era air defense munition while reducing reliance on dwindling stocks of 9M33-series missiles. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.