Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Volodomir Zelensky 's government has unsuccessfully requested long-range missiles from its Western allies. After more than a year, the United Kingdom officially ended the wait, as they began sending Storm Shadow missiles, capable of reaching targets more than 300 kilometers away.
The fairy godmother was Ben Wallace, UK Minister of Defense, who confirmed the shipment before the House of Commons. As to why the shipment, he justified himself by asserting that the donation "givesUkraine the best chance to defend itself against Russia's continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law."
In turn, the official assured that"Ukraine has the right to be able to defend itself against this" and that the missiles would be used"within Ukrainiansovereign territory." Precisely, this was one of the major concerns of the United States when sending this type of weapons, since it feared that they could be used to attack Russian sovereign territory.
"These weapons will give Ukraine a new capability, members should recognize that these systems are not even in the same league as the Russian AS-24 killjoy hypersonic missile," or "even the Kalibr cruise missile with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers, roughly seven times that of a Storm Shadow missile," Wallace continued.
The arrival of the missiles comes in fulfillment of a promise by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who pledged in February that they would be the first country to send long-distance missiles to Ukraine. "Wesimply will not stand idly by while Russia kills civilians," the Briton said at the time.
WATCH: UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirms delivery of Storm Shadow to Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/fx70hsqChS
— Artoir (@ItsArtoir) May 11, 2023
What is a Storm Shadow missile?
As for its physical characteristics, it is just over 5 meters long, weighs 1.3 tons (1,300 kilograms) and has an attack capacity of more than 300 kilometers away, making it a very useful weapon.
It was developed in 1994 as part of a joint project between France and the United Kingdom, at a cost of approximately 2 million pounds per piece. They are currently manufactured in the city of Stevenage by the MBDA company.
Once launched, the missile cannot be controlled, self-destruct or change its target, making it a "shoot and forget" missile.
Fire and Forget
. Once fired, it will follow a semi-automatic path to its target, although prior to impact it rises slightly and then dives into the target. The purpose of this is to achieve a better probability of identification and penetration of their "victim".
