During President Zelenskyy’s visit to Great Britain, not only training of Ukrainian pilots (it seems to have already been confirmed that it will be the Eurofighter Typhoon), but also possible deliveries of long-range missiles to Ukraine were discussed. The Times believes these will be Storm Shadow cruise missiles from Matra BAe Dynamics and MBDA. What kind of missile is this?

Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable long-range air-to-surface cruise missile. The joint development of weapons by the French Matra and the British Aerospace began in 1994, and since 2002 the missile has been in service and is used by the air forces of Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt, India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In France, the missile is called SCALP-EG, in Great Britain – Storm Shadow. The manufacturer is the European defense concern MBDA.

This is quite a powerful missile. With a weight of 1,300 kg (a typical multirole fighter takes one or two Storm Shadows under the fuselage) it has a warhead weighing 450 kg, and it is a two-component BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge) that first “gnaws through” armor or concrete, and then “stuffs” an additional warhead there. Effective thing.

Storm Shadow has a range of 560 km (export variants only 250 km) and, like all cruise missiles, flies low and quietly. The missile has inertial and GPS guidance, a terrain tracking system. At the final stage, a thermal homing head and a terrain contour matching are used.

SCALP-EG / Storm Shadow has a proven track record of combat use during the Invasion of Iraq (2003), the First Libyan Civil War (2011) (trying to target Muammar Gaddafi’s bunker) and operations against ISIS in Syria (2015-2016).

And now the most interesting thing. Air platforms for SCALP-EG / Storm Shadow are European multirole fighters: Eurofighter Typhoon, Panavia Tornado, Dassault Mirage 2000 and Dassault Rafale. We will remind you that Ukrainian pilots should be trained on the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Regarding stocks. The Royal Air Force has between 700 and 1,000 Storm Shadow missiles. The French Air Force still has about 500 missiles, so there is a lot to share. As always, high-precision weapons are very expensive, each such missile costs $1.71 million in 2022 prices.

Well, while the US is still hesitant about MGM-140 ATACMS, SCALP-EG / Storm Shadow missiles, even in the export version, can be a good substitute for hitting the far rear of the Russian invaders. But yes, they also need planes and trained pilots. So looking forward to the good news, Great Britain, really looking forward to it!

SCALP-EG / Storm Shadow missiles technical specifications
Mass – 1300 kg
Length – 5.1 m
Diameter – 0.48 m
Wingspan – 3 m
Warhead – 450 kilograms BROACH
Engine – Turbomeca Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet, producing 5.4 kN thrust
Operational range – 560 km or 250 km (export version)
Flight altitude – 30–40 m
Maximum speed – 1000 km/h, Mach 0.8-0.95 (depending on altitude)
Guidance system – Inertial, GPS and TERPROM. Terminal guidance using imaging infrared DSMAC
Launch platform – Eurofighter Typhoon, Panavia Tornado, Dassault Mirage 2000, Dassault Rafale