UK Secretly Delivered Storm Shadow Missiles to Ukraine - First Under Starmer’s Government

Anonymous sources told  Bloomberg , that the United Kingdom had sent dozens of Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine several weeks ago. The shipment was timely as Ukraine reportedly faced a shortage of the weapons.

This is the first missile delivery made under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's leadership. In declining to disclose the exact timing or quantity of the missiles, the officials emphasized the need for operational security.

The move came amidst speculation that London has approved Kyiv’s use of Storm Shadows for strikes inside Russia, following a similar decision by the United States to permit Ukraine to use its ATACMS missiles for deep strikes.

The UK requires US approval for such operations involving Storm Shadows, as the missiles include US-provided components regulated under Washington’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), as Kyiv Post reported earlier.

For months, Kyiv had appealed to the US to lift restrictions on the use of long-range missiles, arguing that the inability to target threats at their source left Ukraine vulnerable.

After Washington gave its approval, Ukraine apparently fired ATACMS into Russia’s Belgorod region at an ammo depot on Nov. 19.

Similarly, Ukrainian forces reportedly used UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles last week to strike the Baryatinsky estate in Russia’s Kursk region in which it was suspected that an Russian Armed Forces command post was located.

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What is Storm Shadow? 

The Storm Shadow is a subsonic air-launched cruise missile designed to strike pre-planned stationary targets. It was developed in the 1990s by MBDA, a joint venture between British and French defense companies. 

France also supplied Ukraine with the French variant known as the SCALP-EG.

The missile is powered by a turbojet engine with a range exceeding 250 kilometers (155 miles), according to the MBDA website. It is a fire-and-forget missile aided by a combination of GPS, terrain-referenced navigation (TRN), and internal inertial navigation systems (INS) that allow it to follow the path semi-autonomously, where it then gains altitude and switches to an infrared (IR) camera to match the target stored image upon final impact.

According to former British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, in May 2023, Kyiv received the first batch of Storm Shadows from the UK, making them among the first long-range missiles provided by Ukraine’s allies. 

A video published by the Ukrainian Air Force on Facebook implied that a Storm Shadow missile, launched from a Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO: Fencer) supersonic, all-weather tactical bomber, was used in an attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol that destroyed the Rostov-on-Don submarine and Minsk landing ship in September 2023.