Obtaining intact Storm Shadow missiles could help Russia develop plans to neutralize this Ukrainian weapon, as well as improve its domestic weapons.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia's "Tsar Wolf" military advisory group, announced on July 6 that the country had recovered a Storm Shadow cruise missile almost intact after it fell in the conflict zone in Ukraine.
“The missile has just been delivered to a Russian defense enterprise, which allows them to decode the algorithm, control system and share information with air defense specialists,” Rogozin said.
Western military experts believe that Russia could gain many benefits from the dissection and research of the Storm Shadow missile, when it falls into the hands of the Russian military in a complete state with the hull, control system and BROACH multi-layer explosive penetrator warhead.
The Storm Shadow/SCALP EG long-range cruise missile, jointly developed by the UK and France, has a maximum speed of 1,000 km/h and is capable of hitting targets at a distance of 250-560 km depending on the variant. Each missile costs more than 3 million USD. The Ukrainian Air Force uses them to attack high-value targets, protected by air defense networks and located deep inside Russian-controlled territory.
“The risk of the Storm Shadow missiles being intercepted or malfunctioning and crashing to the ground and being captured by Russia was predicted in advance and certainly the UK took this into account when providing aid to Kiev,” expert Tyler Rogoway wrote on the US military website Warzone.
According to him, this is the reason why Ukraine has applied many modern measures, including deploying the US-made ADM-160B decoy, to increase the survival rate of the Storm Shadow missile on its way to the target. "Therefore, letting the intact missile fall into the hands of Russia is very worrying," the expert commented.
It is unclear why the Storm Shadow missile fell without exploding, but Rogozin said it was only partially destroyed due to its very flat trajectory and “it almost hit the ground.” Russian forces disassembled and removed the missile from the battlefield, despite artillery fire and attempts by Ukrainian reconnaissance teams to stop it.
According to military experts, the first benefit that Russia gained from studying the missile was understanding the tactical and technical characteristics of the longest-range cruise missile model that Ukraine was transferred to.
The Storm Shadow missile has stealth features, especially on the front, to hide it from enemy air defense systems. Examining the materials and design principles of the captured missile could help Russia determine the missile's specific radar reflectivity, allowing it to develop a plan to detect it from a distance.
Russian reporter next to part of the Storm Shadow missile body. Photo: 1TV
The Storm Shadow's BROACH warhead is also equipped on the US-made AGM-154 JSOW-C glide bomb. It includes a primary shaped charge to penetrate tank armor, reinforced concrete and ground, paving the way for the large explosive warhead to penetrate inside and cause maximum damage. This type of warhead gives the Storm Shadow missile the ability to attack and destroy fortified targets, which is only available on large laser-guided bombs.
“Russia may also study the rocket engine to gather intelligence. However, the most valuable treasure on the captured missile is the electronic equipment, mainly the guidance and targeting system,” Rogoway said.
Storm Shadow uses inertial navigation, satellite guidance and terrain image matching during flight to the target, then activates a high-resolution thermal imaging seeker with an automatic target recognition (ATR) system.
ATR works by comparing images from the terminal seeker with a database loaded before flight. The central computer confirms the target and steers the missile down, possibly even aiming for the weakest point of the target. The system operates completely automatically with a high degree of accuracy and without human intervention, making it immune to radio jamming.
“If the sensor system, electronic computers, and software on the missile are not completely destroyed, Russia can restore their operations and learn about the operating parameters, as well as the target locking process and weaknesses of the ATR. This will help Russia find countermeasures, as well as improve its domestic weapons capabilities,” the US expert warned.
There are several moves that show Russia is taking countermeasures against Storm Shadow and future Western weapons equipped with ATR. One of them is painting the bows and sterns of warships in the Black Sea Fleet black, to change the shape recorded by enemy sensors.
Storm Shadow/SCALP EG cruise missile hanging under the belly of a French fighter. Photo: MBDA
Rogoway said the Storm Shadow is a relatively advanced missile, but not the most modern weapon in the West today, and that one falling into Russian hands would not change the situation on the battlefield.
“However, studying the complete missile still helps them obtain invaluable information that cannot be obtained by traditional intelligence methods,” the American expert stated.
Rogozin, who oversaw the two-day daring operation to retrieve the missile under Ukrainian artillery fire, expressed confidence in Russia’s success. “I hope that the results of the research will help the Russian defense industry find a way to completely neutralize this type of missile,” he said.
According to Vu Anh (VNE)
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