STORM SHADOW CRUISE MISSILE
1. Context
The United Kingdom will provide long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, which it has been requesting in a bid to push back invading Russian forces, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament
The weaponry is the latest addition to the long list of military aid given to Kyiv by its Western allies. Ukraine has so far received a wide variety of weapons and ammunition, including anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft systems and artillery, since Russia invaded it in February 2022
Source: BBC
2. About Storm Shadow cruise missile
- 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.,”
- 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
- It has 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
- 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
- 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
- According to MBDA, Storm Shadow is operated from Eurofighter Typhoon, Rafale, Mirage 2000 and Tornado
3. Way forward
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.
Source: indianexpress
