How U.K.’s Storm Shadow Missiles Sent to Ukraine Compare to U.S. ATACMS
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Storm Shadow cruise missiles provided to Ukraine by the United Kingdom allow for greater strike capabilities than US-made surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), a former high-ranking U.S. military official said.
U.K. Defence Minister Ben Wallace confirmed the sending of multiple missiles following a CNN report citing multiple Western officials, calling the donation Ukraine’s “best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality.”
Storm Shadow is a long-range, air-launched attack missile manufactured by France-based MBDA Systems, mainly for the U.K. and French armed forces. It can be operated in extreme conditions in both day and night, offering deep-strike capability with a firing range in excess of 250 kilometers (155 miles)—about 30 miles short of the range of ATACMS.
Ukrainian officials for months have requested ATACMS, also known as the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System, because of its firing range and ability to be launched by HIMARS previously provided by the U.S.
“While Storm Shadow’s range is only slightly less than ATACMS, it has other major advantages – like nap of the earth terminal guidance and capability for ‘painting’ a target – that gives it greater strike capability over the US missile,” Mark Hertling, a former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, tweeted Thursday. “Well done UK.”
The Storm Shadow missile is also equipped with fire-and-forget technology and fully autonomous guidance.
“The donation of these weapon systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law,” Wallace said, according to video published by Sky News.
“Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this. The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory.”
The decision was made, Wallace added, to provide a “calibrated & proportionate response” to Russia’s escalations.
Jordan Cohen, policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told Newsweek that Storm Shadow missiles “definitely make a huge impact, almost as much as ATACMS,” in terms of range when targeting Russian command centers, supply lines and ammunition depots.
They may also prove fruitful in preventing Russian military advances, he added.
“One advantage Russia has had is the ability to sit far away and bomb Ukraine, and this gives Ukraine a similar capability,” Cohen said. “It sounds like Ukraine has promised the U.K. that they would not use these to hit targets inside Russia. Beyond that, the fact that it is not the U.S. sending these weapons, in my opinion, is better and signals a lack of U.S. escalation.”
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Cohen said that monitoring the use of the missiles will be important in case a Ukrainian military separatist or similar gets hold of them and targets inside Russian borders, causing escalation.
The U.K. is the second-largest military aid supplier to Ukraine after the U.S., contributing about 2.3 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) worth of support last year, according to Reuters.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence entered into a 1.13 billion-pound contract with MBDA Systems in 1997 for the development and production of the Storm Shadow missile, according to Airforce Technology. The intent was to provide the Royal Air Force with a conventionally armed stand-off missile.
The missile weights about 2,866 pounds and is about 16.7 feet long. It was first operational and in the hands of the Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in 2003, according to the MBDA website, and has been used in warfare in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya.
Storm Shadow is being utilized by multiple other air forces, including in Egypt, Greece, India, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—the latter of which refers to the missile as the Black Shaheen.
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