The video of a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-24M (NATO: Fencer) tactical bomber releasing two Storm Shadows over the weekend was the first time Kyiv has publicly demonstrated the missiles more than a year after the British missiles and their French SCALP EG versions arrived. It was released by Ukraine’s Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk to mark Kyiv’s Aug. 4 Air Force Day celebration.
The six-second video of the missiles being released has generated as much excitement among military analysts, milbloggers and aircraft spotters as did the first photographic evidence of the missiles being carried on the Su-24 did when they were published in June last year.
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The footage, which shows the two missiles being detached from the Soviet-era bomber and starting to glide towards a target, possibly against military targets in Crimea, which the missiles have attacked on several occasions.
The video is further evidence of how Ukraine and its partners have been able to successfully integrate Western military technology with its existing inventory. In the case of Storm Shadow/SCALP and the Su-24 this necessitated the repurposing of underwing weapons pylons from the UK Air Force’s retired Panavia Tornado GR4 multi-role strike aircraft.
The Anglo-French Storm Shadow/SCALP is a low-observable, long-range air-launched cruise missile manufactured by the European MBDA consortium and was developed from the French Apache anti-runway cruise missile.
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The missile, which weighs about 1,300 kilograms (2,900 pounds) is approximately 5.1 meters (16.7 feet) long, 0.48 meters (1.6 feet) in diameter, and has a wingspan of 3 meters (9.8 feet). It carries a 450-kilogram (990-pound) Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge (BROACH) two stage warhead which employs an initial explosive penetrator that then allows the following main charge to enter the target.
Both variants use the TRI 60-30 turbojet engine to fly at a speed of Mach 0.8 (990 kph/615 mph) with a range of approximately 560 kilometers (350 miles). Its advanced guidance system combines inertial navigation, GPS, and terrain reference navigation. It seems that unlike Western aircraft Ukraine’s Su-24 is unable to use a data link that allows mid-course corrections.
It is possible that in the near future the newly arrived F-16 fighter aircraft could also be used to deliver Storm Shadow / SCALP missiles although suggestions thus far indicate it is Kyiv’s intention to employ the fighters as air defense weapons.
The UK announced that it was supplying Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine on May 11, 2023, and they were used for the first time two days later to hit industrial sites linked to the Russian military in occupied Luhansk. Less than three months later France announced it was providing its SCALP EG variants to Kyiv.
The missiles have been extensively and successfully used to attack targets in occupied Crimea and the strategic targets in other occupied areas. Notable successes include:
- June and July 2023: hits against the Chongar Strait railway bridge that links occupied Crimea with the Kherson region.
- On Sept. 13, 2023: a strike against Sevastopol port seriously damaged the Rostov-on-Don submarine and the Ropucha-class landing ship Minsk.
- 22, 2023: at least three of the missiles hit the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol in which it was claimed that more than 30 senior Russian naval officers were killed.
- 26 Dec. 2023: two Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles destroyed the Russian landing ship Novocherkassk in the occupied port of Feodosia.
The UK and France initially did not approve their use against targets on Russian territory but that changed following Russia’s renewed offensive against the Kharkiv region. At a May 28, 2024, news conference French President Macron said he would permit Ukraine to use the missiles to strike targets inside Russia followed in July, when the newly elected UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced approval for the defensive use of Storm Shadow missiles on targets inside Russia.
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