• The US shot down a ballistic missile for the first time from Guam in a major test this week.
• The event comes as the Pentagon increasingly looks to protect key military infrastructure on Guam.
• Guam would almost certainly be a target in a war with China, which has missiles that can reach the island.

The US military shot down a ballistic missile for the first time from Guam this week, marking a significant step toward strengthening defenses on the Pacific island well within reach of China's long-range weapons.

The US Missile Defense Agency said on Tuesday that during the FEM-02 test, it "successfully conducted a live intercept of a ballistic missile target."

The test involved launching a top interceptor munition, the RIM-161 Standard Missile-3 Block IIA, jointly developed by RTX and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, from the Aegis Guam System, an advanced air-defense battery. The SM-3, which costs nearly $30 million, then struck an air-dropped medium-range ballistic missile target off the coast from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base.

The Aegis Guam System, made by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, consists of an integrated AN/TPY-6 and vertical launch system based on the Mark 41 shipborne missile system. American warships, such as destroyers and cruisers, use these vertical launch systems to fire missiles and defend against incoming threats, as they have been doing for over a year in Middle East conflicts.

Lockheed said in a statement that the test gives the Department of Defense a better understanding of the Aegis Guam System's ability to counter missiles. It said the AGS could help "with pacing the Indo-Pacific threats." The Pentagon routinely characterizes China as its "pacing challenge."

Rear Adm. Greg Huffman, the commander of Joint Task Force-Micronesia, a senior command established earlier this year, hailed the missile test as "a critical milestone in the defense of Guam and the region."

The admiral said that "it confirmed our ability to detect, track, and engage a target missile in flight, increasing our readiness to defend against evolving adversary threats."

The newest test, the MDA said, is a step toward the future Guam Defense System; the agency explained that "the future is focused on defending Guam and protecting forces from any potential regional missile threats." As part of the US Pacific Deterrence Initiative, the US is planning to dramatically bolster Guam's defenses over the coming years.

Defending US forces from Chinese missiles

The intercept test comes as the Pentagon seeks ways to better protect important military infrastructure on Guam from China's expanding arsenal of ballistic missiles. DoD has repeatedly highlighted the Chinese missile threat in its annual China military power reports, yet there are concerns about readiness to confront the threat.

Some US lawmakers warned earlier this year that the US is unprepared for a potential Chinese missile strike on bases in the Indo-Pacific, highlighting the need for additional active and passive defenses.

The military installations on Guam routinely host American bombers and warships on rotational visits, as well as communications and surveillance operations, making the small island and its defense essential to US national security interests in the region. Chinese military planners also know the island's value.

China's People's Liberation Army Rocket Force boasts thousands of missiles, including the DF-26, a solid-fueled intermediate-range ballistic missile. The DF-26 is nicknamed the "Guam Express" because it can reach US forces on the island, some 2,500 miles from Beijing. It also has an anti-ship role, leading it to it sometimes being described as a "carrier killer." The Chinese military is also developing the DF-27 hypersonic missile expected to also be able to range Guam.

Chinese ballistic missiles have not been tested in combat, but conflict experts say that the US could face a threat unlike anything it's seen before in a conflict with Beijing. This potential scenario has underscored a need for more robust air defenses, and this effort is underway in Guam, which would be a key target.

"Within the context of homeland defense, a top priority for the Department of Defense, Guam is also a strategic location for sustaining and maintaining United States military presence, deterring adversaries, responding to crises, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region," the MDA said in a statement. There's long been a recognition that Guam needs more defenses. This test moves that forward.

• Russia launched more than 6,000 drones and missiles this fall, per The Wall Street Journal.
• Ukraine has used a combination of air defense systems and electronic warfare to counter the attacks.
• To overcome these tactics, Russia is increasing its use of decoy drones against Ukraine.

Russia fired four times as many drones and missiles at Ukraine in the past three months compared to the same time a year ago, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

Using data from the Ukrainian Air Force Command, the report said that Russia launched more than 6,000 drones and missiles in the war during September, October, and November.

Ukraine has used a combination of air defense missile systems and electronic warfare technology to counter Russia's attacks.

However, Russia has used a variety of tactics to overcome Ukrainian air defenses, including hitting Ukraine with a variety of drones and missiles at the same time.

It has also been using unarmed, fake drones in swarm attacks, Kyiv's military intelligence agency, also known as the HUR, wrote in a statement shared to the Telegram messaging app in November.

These drones are smaller and cheaper than the Iranian-made Shahed-136 one-way attack drone that is often used by Russia against Ukraine.

Named "Parody" by the Ukrainians, the decoy drones apparently mimic the radar signature of a Shahed to mislead Kyiv's air defenses.

Analysts believe the record drone strikes may be designed to damage Ukraine's air defenses ahead of a major attack on the country's energy infrastructure.

"The Ukrainians are going to have a difficult winter," George Barros, team lead for Russia and geospatial intelligence at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) told Sky News.

"They're very resilient and they've found ways to mitigate the effect of Russian attacks, but at the same time the Russians have also learnt — they've managed to find more effective and creative ways of penetrating Ukraine's air defense."

On Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said it shot down 28 out of 74 drones launched by Russia in a night attack targeting Ukraine. A further 46 drones were "lost," the air force said.

Russia has also been stepping up its use of missiles. Late last month, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced more details of the'Oreshnik' hypersonic missile, days after it was first used to strike a munitions factory in Ukraine's Dnipro region.

He said the destructive elements of the missile reach over 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and that it had been used as a response to Ukraine's Western allies allowing their long-range missiles to be used against Russia.

• The US Navy is converting Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers into hypersonic missile shooters.
• The expensive Zumwalt class has struggled to find a suitable mission and weapons.
• The upgrade is part of the US' effort to keep pace with adversaries in fielding hypersonic weapons.

The US Navy's Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers are hailed as a revolution in naval warfare due to their next-generation design and advanced technology.

But nearly two decades after the first-in-class USS Zumwalt began construction, the world's most advanced surface combatants are still not ready for combat, victims of development problems, cost overruns, and ineffective systems.

Now, the sea service is retrofitting the Zumwalt-class destroyers to launch future hypersonic missiles in a bid to make the costly warships more useful by allowing them to strike targets from afar with greater precision.

The Zumwalt has been docked at a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, since August 2023 to integrate the new and untested weapon system.

The ship is expected to be undocked this week as it prepares for tests and a return to the fleet, according to a shipyard spokeswoman, though the Navy said it wants to begin testing the ship's new hypersonic weapon system in 2027 or 2028.

The world's largest, most advanced destroyer

The Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers are considered the most advanced surface warships in the world, equipped with innovative naval technology.

Named after Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., the youngest chief of naval operations in US history, the lead ship USS Zumwalt is the largest destroyer in the world at 610 feet long. It can house a crew of nearly 200 sailors and accommodate one MH-60R Seahawk helicopter in its hangar.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and Huntington Ingalls Industries were behind the design and construction of the three stealth destroyers.

The warships feature an all-electric propulsion system and a composite deckhouse covered with radar-absorbing material to hide their sensors and communication systems. But the US Navy has struggled to arm them.

Due to the ship's manufacturing issues and soaring costs, the Navy reduced the Zumwalt class's overall size from 32 ships to just three: the Zumwalt, USS Michael Monsoor, and the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, which is expected to commission after its combat systems are fully installed and activated.

The first shipborne hypersonic weapon

The stealth destroyers were armed with two 155 mm deck guns for shore bombardment, but ballooning manufacturing costs made the ammunition for the guns ridiculously expensive.

The Navy halted the ammo procurement in 2016, the same year the Zumwalt was commissioned, and publicly announced in 2018 that it was scrapping the now-useless main deck guns for a new weapon system.

In 2021, then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said the stealth destroyers would be the first Navy warships to be armed with hypersonic missiles instead of its Block V Virginia-class submarines, saying that it would be an "important move" toward turning the surface ships into strike platforms.

The Navy said the first-in-class stealth destroyer's "upgrades will ensure Zumwalt remains one of the most technologically advanced and lethal ships in the US Navy."

Photos showed the Zumwalt's main deck gun mounts were removed. The cannons will be replaced with four all-up round canisters containing three hypersonic missiles each. These come in addition to its conventional missile arsenal of 80 vertical launch cells.

US efforts in hypersonic innovation

The US military is working on hypersonic weapons across all branches. The Zumwalts will be armed with the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) system, the Navy's joint hypersonic weapons program with the Army and US Strategic Command.

Described by STRATCOM as "a strong deterrence message to our adversaries," the "highly lethal platform" would launch like a ballistic missile but instead uses a two-stage solid-fueled rocket booster to get the projectile to travel at speeds faster than Mach 5 speed — nearly 4,000 mph. The booster allows the missile to change trajectory at these speeds, unlike a ballistic missile, and combined with its lower altitude flight complicates efforts to intercept it.

The weapon system features an all-up round (AUR) missile and a separate payload modular adapter, which the Navy is testing along with the missile and eject system.

"It's not like any other type of missile," Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, the Navy's director of strategic programs, told reporters at the Naval Submarine League's annual symposium last month. "You don't light this thing off inside."

The CPS system failed its first test in June 2022, as well as subsequent flight tests in March and September 2023. The first successful test was completed this summer.

"The testing that we need to do to get to the final integration of Zumwalt, that's irrespective of where the Zumwalt's at, whether it's in the water," Wolfe added.

In addition to the CPS system, the Navy is also developing a hypersonic air-launched anti-ship missile expected to be compatible with the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet. However, few details about the $178.6 million program have been released to the public.

Scrapping the Zumwalts' twin turrets

Developed to provide off-shore precision fire support from a distance, the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers were armed with a pair of Advanced Gun System (AGS) mounts to fire naval artillery from up to 100 nautical miles away — in what would've been the US Navy's longest-range shell in use.

However, after the Navy reduced the size of its Zumwalt fleet, manufacturing costs for the Long-Range Land-Attack Projectile-guided shells skyrocketed to about $800,000 to $1 million per round — about the same price as a cruise missile.

The rocket-assisted projectiles also fell short of the intended range, prompting the sea service to cancel production of the munitions, rendering the pair of high-velocity cannons useless.

Before announcing the new hypersonic weapon, the Navy floated other weapon systems to replace the failed gun mounts, including an electromagnetic railgun or futuristic laser weapons.

The hypersonic edge

In recent years, US adversaries like Russia and China have been developing hypersonic weapons, adding pressure on the Pentagon to prioritize its own hypersonic development efforts.

China has "the world's leading hypersonic arsenal," and Russia has already deployed two of its three hypersonic weapon systems in Ukraine, according to congressional testimony from Jeffrey McCormick, senior intelligence analyst at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.

The US, however, has yet to field a single hypersonic weapon amid ongoing development and integration challenges across the military, including the Zumwalt-class artillery upgrade.

'Is it really worth the money?'

Research and development for the destroyer cost about $22.4 billion, and General Dynamics spent another $40 million just to construct a shipyard facility large enough to accommodate the giant hull segments.

Each ship cost an average of $7.5 billion — more expensive than the Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

Even with all of their costly innovations, the Zumwalt-class vessels continued to be plagued by equipment problems and constantly needed repairs.

Last year, the Navy awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries with a $154.8 million contract to integrate the hypersonic weapon system aboard USS Zumwalt. The Congressional Budget Office also estimated that it would cost nearly $18 billion to buy and maintain 300 of the hypersonic boost-glide missiles for the next 20 years.

As the expenses of fielding US-developed hypersonic weapons pile up, some military analysts say the costs outweigh the benefits.

"This particular missile costs more than a dozen tanks," Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the DC-based think tank Lexington Institute, told the Associated Press. "All it gets you is a precise non-nuclear explosion, someplace far, far away."

"Is it really worth the money?" Thompson continued. "The answer is, most of the time, the missile costs much more than any target you can destroy with it."

A steep price to pay to keep pace

While conventional missiles may cost less, long-range hypersonic weapons increase the chances of striking the targets of adversaries protected by advanced air defense systems like those of China and Russia.

"The adversary has them," retired Navy Rear Adm. Ray Spicer, CEO of the US Naval Institute, told the AP. "We never want to be outdone."

Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, told the AP that while the US stealth destroyers were "a costly blunder," the Navy could "take victory from the jaws of defeat here and get some utility out of them by making them into a hypersonic platform."

The jury is still out on whether the Zumwalt hypersonic upgrades are worth the hefty price tag, but it would at the very least give the stealth destroyers a purpose.

"Zumwalt gave us an opportunity to get [hypersonics] out faster," Gilday told USNI News in 2022," and to be honest with you, I need a solid mission for Zumwalt."

• The US Navy has developed a new way of reloading warships with missiles while at sea.
• It will be "critical" to any future conflict in the Pacific, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said.
• The solution could be useful, but it's untested in real war conditions, one analyst said.

The US Navy has developed a new way of reloading its destroyers, cruisers, and other sizable warships with missiles at sea, as it contends with the growing naval threat from China.

The Wall Street Journal gained exclusive access to a recent test off the coast of California, where US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro described the new capability as "critical to any future conflict in the Pacific."

The technology is based on repurposed 1990s prototype equipment and uses a hydraulically propelled system that transports missile canisters from a supply ship via a zipline to place them into a launch cell, it reported.

TRAM was tested on land in July and then at sea for the first time in October, off the coast of San Diego, where Del Toro touted it as a "powerful deterrent" to US rivals.

"Without the ability to rearm at sea, our service combatants must return to port, sometimes thousands of miles away," Del Toro said at the time.

This could put them out of action for weeks at a time.

Del Toro said the US Navy expected to start deploying TRAM within the next two to three years.

In a speech at Columbia University in December 2022, Del Toro said delivering the "game-changing" capability to rearm US warships at sea was one of his top priorities.

China has grown increasingly assertive in the Pacific in recent months, crossing into the airspace and waters around Taiwan, a key US partner, and carrying out maritime gray-zone operations in the South China Sea against the Philippines, an ally the US is treaty-bound to defend.

To date, the US has only been able to reload its warships' cruise missile launchers from solid ground, or in sheltered harbors.

In September, the USS Dewey reloaded at an allied naval base in Darwin, Australia.

But "if conflict were to erupt, or if something were to happen, being able to go to various different locations around the Indo-Pacific, it makes it much faster for us to reload," Nicholas Maruca, the commanding officer of the USS Dewey, told the Journal.

However, the technology alone might not be enough.

Nick Childs, a senior naval analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, noted in a recent military blog that the system has only been trialed in "fairly benign" sea conditions and that the Navy needs to distribute enough equipment, replenishment ships, and missiles around the fleet, and also modify warships to receive them.

"However they are accomplished," he said of reloading solutions, they "will be no silver bullet for navies."

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has provided more details on the "Oreshnik" missile.
• The hypersonic ballistic missile was first used by Russia in Ukraine in November.
• Putin said the missile's destructive elements hit temperatures of more than 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shared more details on Russia's "Oreshnik" missile during a state visit to Kazakhstan.

Russia first used the Oreshnik missile in Ukraine last week, striking a munitions factory in Dnipro.

Putin said at the time that his forces had tested "a non-nuclear hypersonic ballistic missile," named the Oreshnik, in response to Ukraine's use of US and UK-supplied long-range weapons.

Speaking to the media in Kazakhstan on Thursday, Putin detailed some more of the Oreshnik's characteristics.

Putin called the missile a "high-precision and high-power weapon" and said that it was "not equipped with a nuclear explosive device, thus they do not cause environmental contamination."

He added that the destructive elements inside the missile's warheads hit temperatures of over 4,000 degrees Celsius (more than 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit).

"The damage is substantial," he continued. "Everything at the centre is reduced to ash, breaking down into its elemental components, and objects located at a depth of three or four, possibly even more, floors below are affected."

Putin also reiterated that the Oreshnik could be as powerful as a nuclear strike if multiple were fired at once.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) said on Friday that the Oreshnik was likely a variant of the Rubezh RS-26 ballistic missile — a solid-fueled, road-mobile ballistic missile.

The ministry said that the missile's payload observed in the strike on Dnipro was "six groups of six warheads," which it said travel at hypersonic speeds before impact.

The missile's potential range is particularly important and has already attracted a great deal of expert commentary.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Missile Defense Project lists the Rubezh RS-26 as having a range of up to 5,800 km (around 3,600 miles), meaning it could strike targets across Europe and the UK.

Former Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan said Russia's use of a missile with such a potential range was a clear message to the West, writing on X: "Putin isn't only messaging Washington D.C. here."

"This is a message to Europe, not only about their support for Ukraine, but also about Russia's capacity and willingness to influence policy related to defence and security well beyond Ukraine," he said.

• Israel is expected to soon deploy its top missile-defense system, Arrow 3, to Germany.
• Arrow's chief engineer told BI that the system had already proved its worth in combat.
• The transfer, planned for next year, comes amid growing concerns in Europe over Russian missiles.

Germany is expected to receive a top Israeli missile-defense system that helped protect the Middle Eastern country from two massive Iranian attacks earlier this year.

Israel is set to deploy the Arrow 3, a highly advanced system designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth's atmosphere, on German soil in 2025 as part of a $3.5 billion deal announced last fall in what officials said was the country's largest-ever defense export.

The transfer comes as Europe and NATO allies like Germany face a rising Russian missile threat to its eastern flank. Just last week, Moscow used a new intermediate-range ballistic missile to strike Ukraine.

Arrow 3 made its combat debut just a year ago in the early days of Israel's ongoing war with Hamas. But the system's chief engineer told Business Insider that it had proved its worth against two massive Iranian missile barrages in April and October of this year.

"Arrow 3 is the right answer for Germany, and, also, it'll be a part of an even greater system to German allies in Europe," Boaz Levy, the CEO of the state-run Israel Aerospace Industries, said in a recent interview.

The Arrow systems are a product of IAI and the US manufacturer Boeing. They were developed because Israel needed a way to defend itself from longer-range ballistic missiles. Together, they make up the upper echelon of the country's air-defense network.

Arrow 2, which was first deployed in 2000, can intercept targets in the upper atmosphere. It was followed in 2017 by Arrow 3, which can eliminate targets in space and up to 1,500 miles away — well beyond the ranges of the US's Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems. Both systems use a two-stage solid-fueled interceptor to engage incoming ballistic missiles.

Israel confirmed the first operational use of Arrow 3 in November of last year after it was used to take down a missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen. But the system saw its most serious tests against two massive Iranian attacks this year.

In mid-April, Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones — including some 120 ballistic missiles — at Israel, which, along with partner forces like the US and the UK, shot down nearly all the munitions.

Six months later, in early October, Iran fired a much larger salvo of ballistic missiles — about 200 — at Israel. Most of the projectiles were intercepted, including by American warships.

Earlier this month, the Israeli defense ministry said Arrow "proved effective" in both Iranian attacks. Levy declined to provide specific figures on its performance. But he said the system performed as intended, adding that "the results that we received over those attacks are really phenomenal."

"We believe that the system proved its capability during these two attacks," he said.

Arrow's demonstrated capability in the Middle East conflicts will make it a valuable asset to Germany as Europe grows increasingly concerned with the Russian missile threat. Moscow's war against Ukraine and its widespread employment of ballistic missiles has prompted NATO countries to seek ways to bolster their air defenses.

Unease over Russian missile capabilities was underscored last week after Moscow launched an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine. A Pentagon spokesperson described the weapon as a "new type of lethal capability" deployed on the battlefield and called it a "concern" to the US.

When Arrow 3 eventually arrives in Germany, it will complement NATO's existing network of systems capable of ballistic-missile defense, including the American-made MIM-104 Patriot battery that has been a workhorse in Ukraine.

In a statement earlier this month, Israel's defense ministry said it has started coordinating joint preparations with Berlin for the initial deployment of Arrow 3 next year. It did not provide a specific date.

Levy said the deployment to Germany was just a starting point, but it comes at a crucial time as missile attacks become more common in conflicts.

"We should expect to have missile attacks in future wars, and that's why a country that wants to defend its assets needs to have such a sophisticated system," Levy said. "Arrow was designed for that."

"I believe that more customers will come," he added.

• Ukraine said on Monday that it found Western-made parts inside North Korean ballistic missiles.
• Russia has used the KN-23 and KN-24 missiles in attacks that have killed Ukrainian civilians.
• It marks the latest discovery of American and European technology inside weaponry used by Russia.

The Ukrainian military said on Monday that it found Western-made parts inside North Korean ballistic missiles, marking the latest discovery for Kyiv as it continues to find technology from Europe and the US inside weapons used by the Russian military.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency said that it found Western-made parts inside North Korea's KN-23 and KN-24 short-range ballistic missiles. These solid-fueled munitions are similar in certain respects to the Russian Iskander missile and can carry payloads in excess of 1,000 pounds.

North Korea sent dozens of these missiles, as well as military personnel to help operate the launchers, to Russia, which has been firing them at Ukraine for nearly a year. KN-23 and KN-24 strikes have killed multiple civilians in recent months.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency, also known as the HUR, said these weapon systems contain parts made by companies in China, Japan, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. Kyiv also said it found a voltage converter made in February 2023 — a year after the full-scale invasion — by British manufacturer XP Power inside a missile.

The company has not yet responded to Business Insider's request for comment.

The HUR called for tighter controls, writing a statement that "in order to obtain technologies for their weapons programs, the aggressor state Russia and its allies — the DPRK and Iran — use joint schemes to circumvent international sanctions, which requires an appropriate response, in particular — the strengthening of export control mechanisms."

Ukraine uploaded what it said was evidence of the Western-made parts to a government portal, which lists the names of several companies and identifies the technology found in the missiles. Kyiv said that it had previously found Western technology in the North Korean missiles.

The Monday statement marks Ukraine's latest announcement on the finding of Western-made parts inside weapons used by Russia in this war. Kyiv has discovered technology of American and European origin in Moscow's missiles and drones, as well as Iranian-made drones.

The continued discovery of Western components in systems made by sanctioned countries highlights the challenge of creating airtight controls.

Beyond missiles, Pyongyang has also provided Moscow with artillery pieces, shells, and troops in support of its invasion. Over 11,000 North Korean forces have been moved into Russia's western Kursk region, where the Kremlin is trying to push out Ukrainian forces who control territory there following a surprise invasion in early August.

NATO said the introduction of North Korean troops into the war marked a "significant escalation" in the grinding conflict. The development has triggered several major policy shifts from the West, including in the US and UK, which finally authorized Ukraine's use of powerful, longer-range missiles to strike military targets in Russia.

Over the past week, Ukraine has used its US-provided ATACMS ballistic missiles and British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles to carry out cross-border strikes for the first time.

• Ukraine has long been restricted from using Western missiles to strike inside Russia.
• The US relaxed some of the rules over the weekend following North Korea's involvement in the war.
• Kyiv has since used both ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles to hit targets on Russian soil.

Ukraine is finally using its powerful, longer-range Western missiles to strike targets inside Russia after waiting over a year for permission.

On Wednesday, Ukraine fired British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles at targets inside Russia for the first time, according to several media outlets and local footage. The UK defense ministry and Kyiv did not immediately comment on the reported developments.

Ukraine fired a volley of at least 10 Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Ukrainian and Western officials.

The Storm Shadow strikes come a day after Ukraine first fired US-made tactical ballistic missiles, known as ATACMS, at a military facility in Russia's western Bryansk region. Kyiv acknowledged the strike but did not say what weapons were used.

Ukraine had long been prohibited from using these Western missiles to strike inside Russia, but President Joe Biden authorized the use of ATACMS over the weekend in a major policy shift, and the UK seemed to follow suit with Storm Shadow. Both missiles have now been used in strikes on Russian soil.

The removal of the restrictions on weapons usage follows the introduction of North Korean troops in the war — a development that NATO has called a "significant escalation" — and comes at a critical moment in the grinding conflict, which just passed the 1,000-day mark.

What are these missiles?

ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems, are short-range missiles made by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin. They can be fired from Ukraine's M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System or M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, which are mobile ground-based launchers.

ATACMS can hit targets up to 190 miles away and, depending on the variant, carry unitary warheads or cluster munitions, which disperse little bomblets mid-flight over a large area.

The longest-range ATACMS variant has a farther reach than much of Ukraine's arsenal, including the British air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, which can strike targets around 155 miles away. It's unclear how many ATACMS and Storm Shadows Kyiv has available in its arsenal.

The Storm Shadow is made by the European multinational corporation MBDA. The missile has low-observable features, can carry a nearly 1,000-pound warhead, and fly at low altitudes to avoid detection. Like Britain, France has also provided Ukraine with its version of the weapon, known as SCALP-EG.

Ukraine debuted its ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles last year but has been limited to using them against targets in territory that Russia illegally occupies in the eastern and southern regions, including the Crimean peninsula.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have repeatedly lobbied for all restrictions to be dropped, and analysts have said the limitations have hamstrung Kyiv's ability to effectively defend itself. The US opposed the move, fearing it could escalate the conflict.

In the face of these restrictions, Ukraine has relied on domestically produced attack drones and missiles to carry out long-range strikes on sensitive military targets in Russia. This campaign has escalated in recent months.

However, the recent involvement of North Korea in the war appears to have moved the needle for the White House. Thousands of North Korean troops have been sent to Russia's Kursk region to help Moscow expel Ukrainian forces, who continue to hold a small chunk of territory there following a surprise invasion in early August.

Biden's policy shift comes just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The incoming commander-in-chief is skeptical of US support for Ukraine and could decide to reverse the order.

The Kremlin has warned the West against allowing Ukraine to use its missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin approved an update to the country's nuclear doctrine in a move that seemed to directly respond to the ATACMS policy reversal.