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The U.K. sent Ukraine powerful Storm Shadow long-range missiles
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that Storm Shadows, which
can hit any target in Ukraine, are being delivered to Kyiv.
1.1k
Michael Weiss and James Rushton
Thu, May 11, 2023 at 11:56 AM PDT·5 min read
A member of the military walks past a Storm Shadow missile.
A member of the military walks past a Storm Shadow missile on display at
the Farnborough Airshow near London in 2018. (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty
Images)
A year ago, it was said to be a direct path to “World War III.” Now it’s
being announced as an accomplished fact.

The United Kingdom is in the process of delivering Storm Shadow cruise
missiles to Ukraine, the British government confirmed Thursday, giving
Kyiv a much-needed and long coveted long-range precision strike capability.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that the supply of the
missiles will “allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based on
Ukrainian sovereign territory,” adding that “none of this would have
been necessary had Russia not invaded.”

The Storm Shadow is an advanced air-launched cruise missile with low
observable characteristics, meaning it is more difficult to detect and
counter by air defense systems than a traditional cruise missile.
Depending on the variant, it has a range of up to 350 miles and carries
a 990-pound warhead. In British, French, and Italian service it has been
used successfully in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Even if the U.K. dispatches the shorter-range variant, the Storm Shadow
can still hit targets as far as 155 miles away. That would put every
single Russian position in all of occupied Ukraine, including Crimea, in
range.

Speaking in the British House of Commons, Wallace confirmed the
Ukrainians would deploy the missiles from their fleet of ex-Soviet
fighter jets. In fact, the Storm Shadow missiles would have been
delivered earlier, Wallace seemed to suggest, but for the technical
engineering feats necessary to adapt the missile to older-generation
fighter jets. Ukraine has a background in hybridizing or “MacGyvering”
its preexisting aircraft to use NATO-standard weapons. MiG-29 and Su-27
fighters, for instance, have successfully fired other advanced Western
supplied munitions, such as the HARM anti-radiation missile and the
Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) GPS-guided smart bombs.

A Tornado GR4 A Tornado GR4 aircraft fitted with a Storm Shadow cruise
missile.
A Tornado GR4 aircraft fitted with a Storm Shadow cruise missile.
(Raf/Mod/UPPA/ZUMAPRESS.com)
The United Kingdom has frequently led the field in supplying military
hardware to Ukraine that even the United States has been reluctant to
send. In the weeks before the full-scale invasion, the Royal Air Force
delivered numerous planeloads of NLAW anti-tank guided missiles, seen as
an extremely important weapon in the early days of the war, making
then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson something of a folk hero in
Ukraine. Late last year, the U.K. became the first country to supply
Western manufactured main battle tanks to Ukraine when it delivered a
squadron of 14 of the British Army’s Challenger Two tanks.

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