Russians can't counter them: Ukrainians speak plainly about Storm Shadow missiles

The Storm Shadow maneuvering missiles, otherwise known as SCALP, are the latest "weapon of victory" that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has chosen to highlight as part of their Advent Calendar campaign. This unique initiative showcases a different tool every day until Christmas, all of which enable Kyiv to effectively combat Russian forces.

- "Today, we express our sincere gratitude to the British and French defense ministries for the incredibly effective long-range maneuvering missiles, the Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG. These missiles have caught the occupiers off-guard and have greatly bolstered our troops. Ukrainian soldiers have been making efficient use of these missiles, inflicting significant damage on the enemy," wrote representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

The Storm Shadow is a long-range maneuvering missile, developed jointly by British and French engineers, with the French predominantly referring to it as SCALP. Conception for the missiles began in the late '90s, and they were actualized in the early years of the 21st century.

The export versions of the Storm Shadow missiles can effectively neutralize targets up to 186 miles away, which is the maximum permissible limit set by the Missile Technology Control Regime. The missile weighs 2,866 pounds, 992 pounds of which is made up by the BROACH warhead (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge). It functions in varying modes, including contact explosion, air explosion resulting in a hail of fragments, and penetration.

The propelling force behind the Storm Shadow missile is the Turbomeca Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet engine. This accelerates the missile to high subsonic speeds of around 0.8-0.9 Ma. The missile utilizes a sophisticated guidance system, consisting of GPS navigation, INS navigation, and an IIR sensor that can visualize the thermal image of the target, ensuring effective target tracking. The presence of this sensor allows the missile to function even in environments where satellite navigation jamming is present. As Przemysław Juraszek once explained, "the sensor continuously maps the terrain and compares it with the preloaded map, offering much greater precision than in the case of inertial navigation".

The Ukrainians are reporting a 100% effectiveness rate of the Storm Shadow missiles when integrated with their Su-24 aircraft. Even the advanced Pantsir-S1 point defense system, which has previously protected Russian territories successfully, cannot handle this threat.

The British-French Storm Shadow missiles join the four weapons already revealed as part of the Ukrainian Advent Calendar. Earlier, Ukraine expressed gratitude to Australia for the Bushmaster transport vehicles, Great Britain for the Challenger 2 main battle tanks, Poland for the self-propelled Krab howitzers, and the United States for the HIMARS missile systems.