Volodimyr Zelensky has not (yet) obtained modern combat aircraft, but now he has long-range missiles. With UK-supplied Storm Shadows, the Ukrainian Army can now hit targets up to 500km away with little risk of missing.
It is a stealth missile about 1300 kg and 5 meters long. It circulates at more than 1000 km/h (Mach 0.80) at only 30 meters above sea level. Its flight path is guided by GPS. Arrived above his goal, he dives to reach it.
It was developed in the 90s by Matra and British Aerospace and later manufactured by MBDA in two versions: Scalp for France and Storm Shadow for the British. Other versions were developed for export with a limited range of 250 kilometers and different names. In the United Arab Emirates it is called the Black Shaheen and was fitted to Mirage 2000s.
A missile designed for European aircraft
So far, Ukraine only has short or medium range weapons (80 km for the HIMARS). With Storm Shadows, you will be able to carry out deep attacks to destroy infrastructure, artillery pieces or armored vehicles to allow the advance of your infantry and tanks.
It remains to be seen how. Storm Shadows and Scalps were designed to be fired by European fighter jets (Rafale, Mirage 2000, Tornado, Typhoon and Gripen), but not by those used by the Ukrainian Air Force (Su-24, 25 or 27 and MiG-29 ).
Can they be easily adapted to these devices? MBDA does not provide an answer on this point. But according to Russia, they have already been used. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that a Storm Shadow missile had been shot down for its surface-to-air defense. Debris images are even making the rounds on Reddit.
We see a dorsal control surface with an identification plate bearing the mention MBDA France accompanied by its code F0555, as well as the serial numbers of the missile. What kind of device was it shot from? the question remains unanswered.
On May 11, the British Defense Minister, Ben Wallace, acknowledged the difficulty of installing this weaponry on a plane from the Soviet or Russian times, but made it clear that it would have been adapted to Ukrainian fighters. He did not specify whether the missiles sent came from his army’s stocks or from export models.
Planes for Ukraine?
Sending these Storm Shadows to kyiv may open a new chapter in Ukraine’s war against Russia. London, which was the first to announce the shipment of tanks -Challengers- and now long-range missiles, will it be the first to provide planes to Volodimyr Zelensky?
In February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the opening of the training of Ukrainian pilots “so that Ukraine has an army capable of defending its interests in the future.” He did not specify on what type of devices. The Royal Air Force has Tornado which have been superseded by Eurofighters in recent years. Will you deliver them to kyiv after the training of pilots and mechanics?
Source: BFM TV
