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There have been reports of successful Storm Shadow strikes in the weeks since the attack on the Chonhar bridge, including the killing of a senior Russian commander and an attack on a Russian vehicle-repair depot in Crimea. Garton Ash lays out the warmongering rationale behind delivering long-range missiles—unlocking the potential of Ukraine’s anticipated counteroffensive, a bloodbath in the making. The navigation system of the missile includes inertial navigation (INS), global positioning system (GPS) and terrain reference navigation for better control over the path and accurate target strike. The Storm Shadow missile is designed to strike the targets with an enhanced accuracy, employing different navigation systems installed onboard. In February 2017, MBDA led the mid-life refurbishment of Storm Shadow / SCALP EG cruise missiles for the UK and French Ministries of Defence.
Russia conducted unsuccessful offensives in multiple areas, Ukraine military says
It’s unclear whether Ukraine has received fully capable Storm Shadows, or a reduced range model so as to adhere to the MTCR arms control regime, which ordinarily discouraged export of missiles with a range exceeding 190 miles. In the fighting around Kherson during Ukraine's counteroffensive last fall, Russia sustained and eventually withdrew its forces using one bridge and a ferry system. "You'd be surprised how many forces can be sustained with a fairly narrow pipeline when it comes to ground lines of communication," Kofman said. The Storm Shadow is also in service with the air forces of Egypt, India, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Iran wages fresh war on its women with abductions and intimidation
Himars have become less effective as the Russian invaders have moved reserves of troops and equipment out of their range. Reflecting such concerns, the minister said the decision was “a calibrated and proportionate response” to the Russian invasion, and in particular Moscow’s repeated targeting of Ukrainian civilians. While no one weapon will win the war, more long-range missiles are critical for Ukraine, said Mr Zagorodnyuk. It is slightly heavier than the Franco-British weapon and was designed specifically to destroy large infrastructure like bridges, command bunkers and ships. The arrival of Himars rocket launchers with a range of up to 50 miles last summer temporarily allowed Ukraine to batter Russia's logistics and command, leading to tactical withdrawal from Kherson. A little over a week earlier, on September 13, Storm Shadows hit the Sevastopol shipyard which is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
SCALP Naval Specifications
Although the missiles are considered a category 1 weapon, and so there is a “strong presumption” that they will not be exported to other countries, officials pointed to the fact that an exception can be made “on rare occasions” where there is a demonstrable need. Ukraine has been gradually amassing western tanks and armoured vehicles as it seeks to build up a counterattack force of 12 brigades aimed at breaking through Russian lines and demonstrating that it could be possible for Kyiv to push the invaders out of the country. Although the White House said last month it would supply a cluster-munition version of ATACMs, it is not yet clear when they will be delivered. Hitting deeper against bigger logistics hubs and command points is now key to success for Ukraine, Mr Zagorodnyuk said. But Moscow quickly moved targets further back out of reach, and since then the front lines have been largely frozen.
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Ukraine Gets Taurus Missile Update - Newsweek
Ukraine Gets Taurus Missile Update.
Posted: Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
A look at the Storm Shadow cruise missile Great Britain has announced it will provide Ukraine. The Ukrainian military says its troops are conducting "effective counterattacks" in the Bakhmut area after they inflicted "huge losses" on Russian forces Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would take an “appropriate” military response to any Storm Shadow missiles used by Ukraine. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the missiles would give Ukrainians the “best chance to defend themselves” as Russia continues its “deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law”. "If we could strike at a distance of up to 300 kilometres, the Russian army wouldn't be able to provide defence and will have to lose," he told an EU meeting.
As CNN has reported, Ukraine's current maximum range on US-provided weapons is around 49 miles. Due to Storm Shadow’s considerable range, Ukrainian jets could release the missile from relatively safe airspace. That said, to delay/avoid detection by Russian ground-based radars and attack from an unpredictable angle, Ukraine may opt for launch from low altitude—even if that reduces the maximum range and requires getting closer. There may therefore still be some need to dodge patrolling Russian MiG-31 interceptors, and Su-35 fighters scanning from above and primed to launch very-long-range R-37M missile.
Storm Shadow / SCALP Long-Range, Air-Launched, Stand-Off Attack Missile
Theoretically, Ukraine could also cobble together means to ground-launch Storm Shadows, accepting a significantly reduced range. But because Storm Shadows don’t require fire control instructions from the launching fighter, they should be comparatively easy to add onto the Ukrainian Air Force’s Soviet warplanes. The armor-penetrating precursor blasts a hole into the target’s surface, allowing the larger main charge to pass inside the targeted structure before detonating—making BROACH effective against hardened targets like underground storage facilities and bunkers. But the real bullseye falls on Russia’s extensive military infrastructure on the Crimean Peninsula, including airbases and much of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Russia had leased bases in that area from Ukraine for two decades, only for Putin to invade the entire peninsula in 2014. But since Ukraine began using the missiles in mid-May, "we've not seen tremendous impact on the Russian force," Kofman said, "and part the reason for that is the adaptations in the Russian military that were caused by the introduction of HIMARS last June."
The UK will send more Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine as part of its single biggest military aid package to the country since Russia’s invasion, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. Overall, Storm Shadow is a potent long-distance strike weapon Ukraine will have to employ judiciously for maximum effect—though even the likely modest number transferred to Ukraine will likely to cause anxiety to Russian logisticians, commanders, and air defense personnel. Fortunately for Ukraine, Storm Shadow donations are more likely to be scalable than the UK’s rare Challenger 2 tanks, as the missiles are also in France’s inventory—under the designation SCALP-EG—and Italy’s. On Monday, the Washington Post reported that the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) had issued a call to weapons manufacturers, on behalf of the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), to supply missiles capable of striking Russian-annexed Crimea or cities deep inside Russia’s borders. Over £300 million in funding has been made available through donations from the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, plus Iceland and Lithuania. The missile is fitted with a two-stage bomb royal ordnance augmented charge (BROACH) blast/ penetrator warhead.
Storm Shadow: Ukraine’s newest weapon to defend against Russia’s invasion
The Indian Air Force (IAF) approached MBDA for recalibrating the software of Rafale fighter jet’s SCALP missile in December 2020. The French Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) awarded a development and production contract to MBDA Systems in December 1997. The French version, known as SCALP, is intended for the Mirage 2000D and Rafale aircraft. Wallace said the US was “incredibly supportive” of the UK’s decision, and said ATACMS missiles were not as suitable as Storm Shadow, which is designed to be able to strike defensive positions below ground. Storm Shadow has a range of “in excess of 250km”, according to its manufacturer, the European arms group MBDA. That is significantly further than the high-precision US Himars rocket launchers currently used heavily by Ukraine, which rely on missiles with a range of 47 miles.
France has also developed and deployed a sea-launched version for use on its naval ship and submarines. As well as the Storm Shadows, which are precision-guided cruise missiles with a firing range in excess of 250 kilometers (155 miles), Britain is also sending more than 1,600 strike and air defense missiles, Sunak’s office said. The package amounts to £500 million ($620 million) of new spending, taking total UK military aid to Ukraine this financial year to £3 billion. Some observers believe Storm Shadow will be crucial to Ukraine's counteroffensive. The missile's 155-mile range allows Ukrainian jets to launch it while staying out of range of Russian air defenses.
But in some strikes, they appear to have been launched alongside waves of Ukrainian kamikaze drones to increase the chances of success. It was rushed into service in time for the Gulf War, where it was found to be so accurate that in one attack, a Storm Shadow reportedly punched a hole in the side of a building and then another one followed through the same hole. On July 11, a senior Russian general, Lt Gen Oleg Tsokov, was reported killed when Storm Shadows hit a hotel housing Russian commanders in Berdyansk, on Ukraine's occupied southern coast. The aircraft that have delivered the Storm Shadow so far include the Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale, Mirage 2000, and Tornado, so it will apparently add a new aircraft type after been adapted to planes in the Ukrainian inventory.
And while a Storm Shadow can go further and has a much larger warhead than a GMRL rocket, it’s also 4-5 times more expensive, so Ukraine will receive a far smaller number. That means each shot will have to count, and there won’t be an indefinite resupply of missiles, making avoiding interception even more pertinent. Western governments might see whether Middle Eastern Storm Shadow clients (Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) are amenable to quietly selling back missiles in exchange for newly-built replacements later. Those sold to the Middle East are believed to be a downgraded variant with 180-mile range sometimes dubbed the Black Shaheen—still potentially useful for Ukraine’s purposes.
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