UK to give long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine: What are their capabilities and how they can help Kyiv fight against Russia

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, his military officers and other experts believe that the Storm Shadow missiles, each costing around £2 million, will give Ukrainian forces the ability to strike Russian military targets located well behind the front lines — especially in Crimea, which Moscow illegally occupied in 2014.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Wallace said, “Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself”.

“The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory.,” he added.

What are the capabilities of long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles?

Storm Shadow is a long-ranged, air-launched, conventionally armed, deep-strike missile, which is manufactured by the France-based MBDA Missile Systems. It was first produced after the “UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) placed a €1.13bn contract with MBDA Systems for the development and production of the Storm Shadow long-range missile in 1997.,” Airforce Technology said in its report.

The same year, France also commissioned MBDA to develop and manufacture Storm Shadow for its forces. The demand for the missile quickly rose as in the following years other countries like Italy and Greece placed orders for the missile.

With a range of more than 250 km, Storm Shadow weighs 1,300 kg and is 5.10m long. It’s capable of being operated day and night in all weathers and designed to destroy high-valued stationary targets such as airbases, radar installations, communications hubs and port facilities. The report by Airforce Technology mentioned that what makes this missile a stealthy weapon is the combination of its long-range, low altitude and supersonic speed.

Storm Shadow, equipped with the fire and forget technology, also offers high precision deep strike capability as it features a sophisticated navigation system that includes inertial navigation (INS), global positioning system (GPS) and terrain reference navigation for better control over the path.

“After launch, the weapon descends to terrain hugging altitude to avoid detection. On approaching the target, its onboard infrared seeker matches the target image with the stored picture to ensure a precision strike and minimal collateral damage.,” the datasheet of Storm Shadow said.

The missile features the BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge) warhead — a high-technology warhead, which first cuts the surface of the target, penetrates into it and then explodes.

Where has it been used?

According to MBDA, Storm Shadow is operated from Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale, Mirage 2000 and Tornado. “It is in service with the Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, the Italian Air Force and a number of export countries and has seen operational service in Iraq, Libya and Syria.,” the company added.

How could Storm Shadow help Ukraine fight Russia?

Experts suggest Storm Shadow missiles could bolster Ukraine’s much anticipated counter-offensive. An analysis published in The Telegraph said owing to the long range of the weapon it would enable Ukrainian forces to strike targets virtually anywhere across Russia. Most significantly, however, the Ukrainians could use Storm Shadow to destroy the Kerch Bridge that connects Crimea to the Russian mainland.

“The Kerch Bridge is an important logistical node in Russian military planning and is critical to Russia’s resupply efforts in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region. Losing the bridge would constitute a major setback to Russia’s armed forces and an important symbolic defeat for Vladimir Putin.,” it added.