Ukraine War

UK Storm Shadow Cruise Missiles for Ukraine

With a range of 250 km, the stealth missile can be launched by Ukraine’s current airplanes and will surely complicate Russian logistics — and a few other things…

The UK government has confirmed that the British/French Storm Shadow air-launched stealth cruise missile will be supplied to Ukraine. In fact, some reports say that it is already there and has been used.

Modifications have already been made to its mountings to enable it to be launched from Ukraine’s own MIGs.

The version supplied is the export version which has a range of over 250km (155 miles) as against the UK/France domestic versions with a range of 560 km (350 miles), according to the missile’s manufacturer Matra BAE Dynamics.

By contrast, the US-supplied Himars missiles used by Ukraine only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles). The longer range versions (ATCMS) have been held back by the Pentagon. Of course the HIMARS are entirely different beasts, being ground launched in salvos, with smaller warheads.

Storm Shadow has been proven in use in several theatres and is undergoing a continual upgrade program.

The threat of the missile with its much longer range than HIMARS and its heavy bunker-busting warhead of 450 kg is certain to force Russian armed forces to move their logistics hubs and key 3C installations further back from the front lines. Longer supply lines spell problems for the invaders.

So, here’s a little more about Storm Shadow and its key features:

It flies at a maximum speed of 1,000 km/hr — Mach 0.8–0.95 (depending on altitude).

Here’s a bit more detail about some of its key features, including the special BROACH warhead.

Design Concept

The concept was for a fire-and-forget medium-range air-launched cruise missile to attack high value military and civilian infrastructure targets such as hardened 3C bunkers, airfields, harbour installations, power stations, AMS/ammunition storage, moored surface ships and submarines, bridges and the like.

The missile is based on the French-developed Apache anti-runway cruise missile. They differ in that the Storm Shadow carries a warhead instead of cluster munitions. (Wikipedia)

Changing operational requirements — and experience — have led to the ‘fire-and-forget’ aspect being modified somewhat (for example there was no ability to command a self-destruct or change targeting parameters post-launch).

BROACH Warhead

It’s a neat acronym for an ungainly collection of words — Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge.

Basically the 450 kg HE warhead has two stages — the first charge broaches the target (which may be hardened) then the second charge with a programmable time delay.

Guidance and targeting

The missile’s target coordinates are uploaded pre-launch and cannot be amended post-launch although an upgrade for a two way data link is thought to be in development.

Guidance is by GPS and terrain following radar, although some reports suggest that inertial navigation (INS) is also in the guidance portfolio. With Russia apparently having some recent — albeit intermittent — success in jamming HIMARS then the TERCOM (terrain following) ability is significant.

During the final manouevre, the nose cone is jettisoned to allow a high resolution thermographic camera (infrared homing) to observe the target area. The missile then tries to locate its target based upon its targeting information (DSMAC).

If it cannot precisely match the camera image to the pre-loaded data, and there is a high risk of collateral damage, the missile is capable of flying to a crash point instead of risking inaccuracy. (Wikipedia)

Launch platforms

Current operational launch platforms are the Mirage 2000, Rafale and Typhoon.

However, with the recent announcement of the supply to Ukraine, the UK Defence Minister said that the missiles would be compatible with Ukraine’s existing, Soviet-era planes and praised the technicians and scientists who made that possible. (BBC)

ECM, stealth and defence

Cruise missiles are inherently slower than HIMARS rockets and therefore much easier to defend against, in theory. But we can be sure that the missiles going to Ukraine will have the required level of ECM capability to protect them against sophisticated Russian air defences.

The Storm Shadow is sold as a stealth missile so you can be sure that there will be several aspects to that capability, including shape, turbojet thermal signature minimisation, anti-radar coatings and sophisticated ECM; as well of course as their flight profiles.

We’ve all seen the old Gulf War videos of US Tomahawk cruise missiles following the roads in Iraq and turning at the street corners, but the Storm Shadow has, literally, a different approach.

The Storm Shadow’s post-launch low flight level makes them almost invisible to long range search radars. And we know that Russian look-down radar capability has been damaged recently:

As it approaches the target area the Storm Shadow climbs steeply, then dives onto its target which is more readily acquired and confirmed by its thermographic camera system from height.

This approach profile is also reportedly used by Russian missiles such as the Kinzhal, which recently proved to be no match for a Patriot.

Operational history

The weapon in its various versions (domestic and export) has been used in Syria, the Libyan civil wars, Iraq and Yemen.

Implications

The UK had told Moscow in December 2023 that the supply of the Storm Shadow was likely given Russia’s continued attacks. On 11 May 2023, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would take an “appropriate” military response to any British-supplied Storm Shadow weapons used by Ukrainian forces.

The image below shows its potential reach — well into Russian territory.

Ukraine has publicly committed to refrain from using long range missiles to attack targets inside Russia’s internationally recognised borders, but it is not known whether the UK has actually geo-fenced Russia within the guidance system of the supplied Storm Shadows.

Britain has reportedly received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles will be used only within the sovereign territory of Ukraine, and not to strike at Russian territory. - LiveUkraine on Telegram

The ability to air-launch from fast mobile platforms well behind the front lines will protect Ukrainian planes and pilots. And now I’m reading that Poland has already handed over 14 Mig-29 planes to Ukraine.

As I mentioned earlier, the new missile threat will affect Russian logistics planning.

On top of that, the Kerch Bridge to Crimea is in range, as well as all military targets in Crimea — and that includes the Russian naval base at Sevastopol.

And then of course there is Donetsk and Lukhansk with all likely targets well within range.

Russian response

The Kremlin “very negatively” assessed the report on the UK’s supply of long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine and wants to find an “adequate” response, — Dmitry Peskov, [Kremlin Press Spokesman] — United24Media Telegram

He might have difficulty finding that response.

Conclusion

This new weapon in Ukraine’s armoury is likely to cause considerable complications for Russian military planners.

Given Russia’s reported partial success in jamming HIMARS (a cat and mouse game according to a Pentagon spokesman), then Russia will find a way to reduce the effectiveness of Storm Shadow. But they will have to take quite a few painful hits to key targets before they achieve that ability.

And by then it may be too late.

Latest:

According to unconfirmed reports, Ukraine received at least 200 Storm Shadow missiles from Britain in the first batch, at least 400 more units are supposedly to be transferred at the second stage.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are testing their use against targets at the front, data for strikes is being transmitted by British intelligence.

Source:

And now France commits to sending the French version:

This is the best of the few videos of Storm Shadow launches that I could find, but the female AI voiceover is dire.

More analysis:

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