Senior Western officials confirmed to CNN that Britain has officially provided Ukraine with "Storm Shadow" precision-guided cruise missiles, significantly enhancing the long-range strike power that Kiev demanded from the start. war to date.
A few weeks earlier, among classified US documents leaked online via the Discord messaging platform, British intelligence said that Britain planned to send to Ukraine an unspecified number of "Storm Shadow" missiles. and operating personnel.
Navigation technology combined with passive target matching
The "Storm Shadow" missile is designed to penetrate deep into hard targets. It is equipped with "fire and forget" technology, and a fully automatic navigation system. "Hurricane Ball" has a length of 5,1m, a wingspan of 3m, a body diameter of 0,48m, weighs 1,3 tons and a range of more than 250km.
The new weapon that Ukraine received, is designed to hit targets with greater accuracy, using different guidance systems installed inside.
The missile's guidance system includes inertial guidance (INS), global positioning system (GPS) and terrain reference guidance to help better control the path and hit the target accurately. In addition, the missile is equipped with a passive infrared imaging detector.
“Storm Shadow” is programmed with every detail of the target and path before the sortie. Once launched from the aircraft, the missile follows a pre-programmed low-altitude trajectory with the help of continuously updated data from the internal navigation system. It then uses an infrared image finder that compares the actual area image with the image stored until it approaches the target.
In terms of warhead, "Shadow Storm" is equipped with a two-stage explosive/armor-piercing warhead. The first stage paves the way for the second by penetrating the target's surface, before the main warhead penetrates and explodes.
The "Storm Shadow" rocket is equipped with a Turbomeca Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet engine system, which can generate thrust of 5,4kN.
The premise for the counterattack
"Storm Shadow" is a long-range stealthy cruise missile jointly developed by Britain and France, usually launched from the air. With a range in excess of 250km, or 155 miles, it is just short of the 185-mile range of the US-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) that Ukraine has long demanded.
In particular, "Storm Shadow" has a deep attack range into Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine. A Western official told CNN that the UK has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles will only be used within the sovereign territory of Ukraine and not against Russian territory.
"If we can attack at a distance of up to 300km, the Russian army will be defenseless and will have to lose." Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the European Union earlier this year.
The missile is a "real game changer, from a range perspective" and gives Ukraine the capability it has demanded since the start of the conflict, a senior US military official said. sudden. Like CNN reported that Ukraine's current maximum range for US-supplied weapons is about 49 miles.
The website of MBDA Missile Systems, the European company that produces "Storm Shadow", says: "After launch, the weapon descends according to terrain to avoid detection. As it approaches the target, its built-in infrared seeker matches the target image with the stored image to ensure precise strike and minimize secondary damage.”
The United States has supplied many guided missile systems to Ukraine, including the High Mobility Artillery Missile System, or HIMARS, but only with ammunition that has a limited range of about 50 miles. In a weapons package announced earlier this year, the Pentagon said it would send Ukraine ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDBs) with twice the range. They can also be launched from HIMARS, but deliveries are expected as early as the end of the year.
(According to CNN, Washington Post)
