The Storm Shadow missiles, kindly supplied by the UK to Ukraine, are dangerous not only because of their flight range, which allows the Ukrainian armed forces to strike in Sevastopol or on the Crimean bridge, but also because of their flight path.
British Storm Shadows in flight can bend around terrain and change direction. At the same time, the missile’s displacement height is only a few tens of meters, which, coupled with stealth technologies, makes it a difficult target for air defense systems to detect.
Also, Ukraine does not need strategic bombers to launch Storm Shadow. Unlike its Russian X-101 and X-555 counterparts, the British projectile can be launched from modified Su-24 or Su-27 aircraft. The missile’s design poses a serious threat even to well-defended targets. Storm Shadow has a double warhead: the first charge destroys an obstacle and the second hits the target itself. This allows you to defeat vehicles in hangars or buried command posts.
Russian air defense has enough means to destroy British missiles. But it is extremely problematic to completely block off the vast area of the country. Even the less modern Tu-141 Strizh UAVs flew deep into Russia. Storm Shadows, with better flight paths and stealth, can create additional problems for air defense.
Photos used: Crown Copyright
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