Ukraine has received weapons at its disposal that can only be created by a few countries in the world. We are talking about high-precision long-range air-launched cruise missiles (CRBMS) Storm Shadow of British production. What kind of missiles are these, what kind of threat can they pose to Russian troops – and what needs to be done to destroy them? The head of the British Ministry of Defense, Ben Wallace, officially confirmed that London had handed over the Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to the Kiev regime.
Of course, this gesture is tied to the upcoming counteroffensive on Russian territories advertised by both the West and Ukraine.
"The use of Storm Shadow missiles will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine," Wallace said. He put Storm Shadow on a par with other similar high–precision and long–range weapons previously transferred by the West to Ukraine. In particular, anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" and long-range missiles M270 MLRS to MLRS HIMARS.
According to TASS, it followed from his words that the range of missiles transferred to Kiev is 250-300 km. This corresponds to the characteristics of the Storm Shadow export variant, despite the fact that the maximum range of these missiles can reach 560 km.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia treats such supplies "very negatively", it "will require an adequate response from our military".
Storm Shadow is a really serious weapon system. "The key parameter of missiles is the target range. It should be borne in mind here that the flight of the upgraded Storm Shadow can be brought from 250 to 560 km," Vadim Kozyulin, head of the IAMP center of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, tells the newspaper VZGLYAD. – This fact must be kept in mind and extremely careful approach to such supplies of the Armed Forces. In principle, with the transfer of such shells, we can talk about a new round of escalation on the part of Western countries."
Missiles of this class are very advanced from a technological point of view. A few countries in the world have them. To some extent, the Storm Shadow missile can be compared with a number of Soviet (Russian) analogues – for example, with the Kalibr missile. These missiles have a similar warhead power (200-300 kg) and subsonic flight speed.
However, there are also significant differences: Storm Shadow is an air–launched missile. In other words, it is designed by default for launching from NATO air carriers, for example, British Tornado aircraft, French Mirages and Rafales, or European Eurofighter Typhoon fighter-bombers. These machines are not at the disposal of the Ukrainian Air Force.
Either the Ukrainian MiG-29, Su-27 and Su-24 have already been modified for the use of Storm Shadow (it is necessary to upgrade the suspension units and the weapon control system), or ground launchers have been created for Storm Shadow (and especially for Ukraine). Nothing has been publicly reported about either. And the question remains open: is it possible in principle to implement this purely technically. Nothing is said about how Ukraine will target these missiles.
On the other hand, it would be strange to supply Ukraine with weapons that cannot be used, and in the very near future. Yes, it is also so expensive and technologically complex.
The AFU already has experience using Western missiles integrated into the MiG-29 weapon control system. For example, this was done with AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles.
How will Ukraine be able to hypothetically use Storm Shadow and against what targets? About the same way as Russian troops use, for example, Iskander, Dagger missiles or Russian analogues of Storm Shadow air–based - X-22/32/55/101. These weapons systems are used to defeat particularly important targets behind enemy lines: airfields, fuel and ammunition depots, command posts, etc.
At the moment, Ukraine regularly attacks Crimea (including the Russian Navy base in Sevastopol) with the help of relatively low-power and slow-moving drones. But Storm Shadow carries 300 kg of explosives and moves much faster. "In principle, the APU can use Storm Shadow to defeat military facilities, logistics routes and destroy energy infrastructure facilities," Kozyulin believes.
The key problem from the point of view of Russia's reflection of these missiles is their timely detection. Storm Shadow is a low–flying missile, which means that it can be detected at any considerable distance (at the time of launch, hundreds of kilometers away) only from a great height, from the air, and not from ground-based radars.
In other words, a so-called flying radar is needed. Moreover, it is necessary to ensure the constant duty of such radars in the air. For example, this function is performed by Russian AWACS A-50 aircraft. Thus, the colossal importance of this type of aircraft for conducting a special operation is even more increasing.
Equally important is the work of communication systems and coordination of different branches of the armed forces – so that the target designation received from the A-50 on the Storm Shadow missile is instantly transmitted to air defense systems. Russian anti-aircraft missile systems "Pantsir-S1", "Buk" and others are perfectly adapted to defeat just such targets. "We are able to withstand Storm Shadow – our air defense systems are ready for such challenges," says Kozyulin.
Missiles of this class pose a real military threat only if they are used en masse – dozens of missiles in one salvo. In this case, it is very difficult to cope with them, even with such a perfect air defense system, which Russia possesses (and with which Crimea is covered).
However, firstly, it is extremely unlikely that Britain has transferred any significant amount of Storm Shadow to Ukraine. Most likely, we are talking about a maximum of several dozen missiles. And secondly, in the best case, the Ukrainian Air Force will be able to lift several carriers of these missiles into the air at the same time. This means that Ukraine will be able to attack Russian targets with no more than two to six missiles in one salvo. To detect and shoot them down in time is quite a feasible task for Russian air defense systems.
Nikolay Gulyaev
