No plan for UK to procure its own Nightfall missiles

• A senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official confirmed there is “no plan” to procure British-made Nightfall missiles at present
• While Nightfall will be delivered to Ukraine from 2027, the UK will learn from the missile’s “high risk” features
• Currently, the UK lean on numerous American precision fires but there are ongoing plans to procure its own effectors

The UK Government has ruled out the acquisition of Nightfall missiles for its Armed Forces; nor will they stockpile large numbers of them in Britain.

Nightfall is a concept for a ground launched tactical ballistic missile which the UK government requested British industry develop in August 2025 to fill a 600km deep strike capability gap for Ukraine. It is said that the missile will not be delivered before late 2027, despite the government lauding its “rapid prototyping”.

But for the UK, the missile will still help to “inform” the country’s own future long range strike projects, according to the Defence Readiness Minister Luke Pollard in a parliamentary written statement on 26 January.

Surprisingly, the UK Government has ruled out acquiring what will be a British-made deep strike capability ahead of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP). The MoD continues to kick the can down the road, unwilling – and perhaps unable (given possible infighting with the Treasury) – to allocate funds for all the ambitions laid out in the Strategic Defence Review last year. Chief officials have since said there will be inevitable trade-offs to come.

High risk development

The deadline for proposals is on 9 February, with development contracts to be awarded in March 2026. Likewise, each team’s first three missiles must be delivered witin 12 months.

This is an exceptionally tight timeframe for the delivery of highly complex and sovereign weapon system.

Nightfall must be able to fire in quick succession; strike within five metres of a GPS coordinate half of the time; the launcher platform must move within five minutes after firing; low signature; resilient in a complex electromagnetic environment, including in a GNSS denied and degraded environment; and resistant against targeted electronic warfare attack and spoofing.

In this way, the UK MoD should be able to adapt and pivot to account for any unforeseen technical, logistical challenges it meets with delivering Nightfall to Ukraine.

However, the UK’s ongoing delivery of Raven and Gravehawk air defence systems could indicate what is to come for Nightfall. Army Technology recently discovered that there was no Gravehawk delivery at all last year, despite government claims to have sent 15 units before the end of 2025.  

The cause for the apparent delay in delivery of Gravehawk to Ukraine has not been disclosed, but it is thought likely that factors such as delays to supplier part deliveries, training of Ukrainian personnel, and even potentially the weather, have been factors.

Meanwhile, the MoD have specified a production requirement of 10 Nightfall missiles per month.

UK deep fires now and in the future

In the Strategic Defence Review, the UK is committed – at least in principle, without any funding at present – to producing 7,000 long range weapons.

To that end, the country is pursuing its own 500km effector through Project Brakestop and a 2,000 km range weapon alongside Germany, which is due to be delivered in the 2030s under the auspices of the Trinity house Agreement.

At present, the Royal Air Force primarily deploys MBDA’s enduring air launched Storm Shadow cruise missile while the British Army operate 29 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, some of which go back to 1989 according to the analytics firm GlobalData.

However, the UK Armed Forces also lean heavily on the US defence industrial base for its long range precision fires; an alarming reality that many defence observers have criticised given the unilateralism of an unpredictable and untamable Trump administration.

Among its existing American kit, the UK deploys Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles – upgrading to the improved Block V – from its Astute-class SSNs at a range of up to a thousand miles. These cost around $2.4m per unit according to US Naval Air Systems Command.

It is unlikely the UK would fully pivot away from the US’ long range offerings going forward. The MoD has expressed interest in Lockheed Martin’s 499+km range Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) in years past. This capability is widely considered to be the successor to the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which the UK had never previously procured.

But with “no plan” to procure the cheaper and homemade Nightfall, the PrSM remains a viable choice.

This would prove to be a bold choice at a time when the UK government face tough fiscal decisions, demonstrated by the extended delay of the DIP. Moreover, it is understood the MoD will not purchase off-the-shelf systems from foreign companies at all.

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