Project Nightfall: UK to build deep-strike missile for Ukraine

They’re calling it Project Nightfall. The UK has confirmed it will build a new deep-strike missile for Ukraine. And as the world order, such as it is, seems to be collapsing, it’s worth asking if it’s a great idea to cross Russia’s main red line.

The government has said the “new tactical ballistic missiles” will:

boost Ukraine’s firepower to defend itself from Putin’s war machine.

The announcement comes after the first chaotic weeks of 2026. We’ve seen heads of state kidnapped, US and UK acts of piracy against nuclear-armed rivals, Donald Trump’s threats against a NATO ally, near-revolution in Iran and ongoing genocides in Gaza and Sudan. And that’s just the half of it.

Yet Keir Starmer has decided to pour more fuel on the fire.

Project Nightfall: long-range, deep-strike

Here’s what the proposed weapon system can do. The British government says it will:

carry a 200kg warhead over a range of more than 500 kilometres.

They claim the missile will

provide Ukraine a long range-punch to counter Russian aggression.

Naturally, Nightfall will equate to more money in the pockets of arms firms. Obviously, the whole scheme is couched in the language of ‘growth’:

Project aims to boost UK defence industry, supporting innovation and growth while stepping up support for Ukraine into 2026.

The government’s press release said the missiles will retail at the bargain price of just £800,000 a go:

With a 200kg conventional high explosive warhead, high precision production rate of 10 systems per month and a maximum price of £800,000 per missile, NIGHTFALL is intended to provide Ukraine with a powerful, cost-effective long-range strike option, with minimal foreign export controls.

Usual cast of ghouls

The standard cast of ghoulish warmongers chipped in as well. First among them, UK defence secretary John Healey. He’d just come back from Ukraine:

The attacks overnight on Thursday just go to show how Putin thinks he can act with impunity, targeting civilian areas with advanced weaponry.

Instead of seriously negotiating a peace, he’s seriously escalating his illegal war.

We were close enough to hear the air raid sirens around Lviv on our journey to Kyiv, it was a serious moment and a stark reminder of the barrage of drones and missiles hitting Ukrainians in sub-zero conditions.

Defence Readiness minister Luke Pollard added:

A secure Europe needs a strong Ukraine. These new long-range British missiles will keep Ukraine in the fight and give Putin another thing to worry about.

Arms firms will now compete to snatch up the lucrative contract:

The detailed Nightfall requirements were shared with Industry Partners on the 19 December 2025 that had signed the required confidentiality and security arrangements.

The deadline to receive Nightfall development proposals is the 9th February 2026, with development contract(s) aimed to be awarded in March 2026.

Once again, global death firms are set to profit from spiraling global instability.

Red lines for Russia

Long-range missiles are a red line for Russia. In September 2024, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would take Ukrainian use of Western missiles to attack targets inside Russia as “direct participation”:

It would substantially change the very essence, the nature of the conflict.

This will mean that Nato countries, the USA and European states, are fighting with Russia.

Notwithstanding the fact that Russia was the aggressor in invading Ukraine, space for resolution seems to be shrinking by the day. Ukraine-Russia peace talks are in their early stages. Starmer recently pledged to send British troops as part of a peace-keeping force if a deal was struck. Yet the UK is also contemplating sending troops to Greenland and the arctic to try and dissuade Donald Trump from invading. Greenland is administered by Denmark, a NATO ally.

The first weeks of 2026 have been frantic. But one thing is clear: whatever global order existed before, even with all its glaring shortcomings and iniquities, it can no longer bear the load of a collapsing US empire.

And the name ‘Nightfall’ suddenly seems dangerously apt for the times we’re living in.

Featured image via the Canary