The looming (Storm) Shadow over Russia’s war in Ukraine
September 11, 2024
The latest delivery of some 220 short-range ballistic missiles to Russia on 4 September has led to renewed calls to remove some of the obstacles that have been placed in the way of Ukraine using its own long range missiles against targets in Russia itself. The arrival of the Russian cargo ship Port Olya 3, carrying Iranian-supplied missiles, prompted calls to “Let Ukraine strike back. Let Ukraine win,” and not to have to go on “fighting for its life with its hands tied behind its back.”
The Daily Mail reported today that “Ukraine could be cleared to launch British Storm Shadow cruise missiles at targets inside Russia within days,” while a forthcoming visit to Kyiv by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is believed by some to signal imminent approval for Ukraine to use US-supplied ground launched Lockheed Martin MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS, appropriately pronounced attack ‘ems) missiles and British-supplied MBDA Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles for long-range strikes.
Both systems are in service in Ukraine, but until now have been limited to attacks on Russian targets in Ukrainian territory, including the occupied Donbas and Crimea.
ATACMS is a supersonic tactical ballistic missile that can be fired from the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), with a range of up to up to 190 miles (300 km).
It is harder to determine the range of Storm Shadow, which is air launched and whose own range has been progressively increased by successive upgrades and improvement programmes, and which has often been deliberately blurred for obvious operational reasons, and also to avoid export complications. This is because the weapon has a range that breaches MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) treaty limits, which focus on missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that can carry a payload of 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) or more over ranges greater than 300 kilometres (190 miles).
The Storm Shadow was developed from the 140-km Matra Apache, but was based on the Anti Structure Apache AI version which had a notional range of 250-km – which was the objective range specified in the RAF’s SRA 1236 Conventionally Armed Stand Off Missile (CASOM) requirement. There were some suggestions that Storm Shadow as delivered was closer to the proposed 600-km Apache C, and certainly, after the 2008 Storm Shadow Capability Enhancement Programme (SSCEP), and the 2017 Mid Life Refurbishment programme, it was clear that official range estimates of ‘in excess of 250-km’ represented a dramatic under-exaggeration (probably for the sake of notional MTCR compliance), and it has become clear that the weapon actually reaches ranges of more than 550-560 km (about 300 nm or 340 statute miles). Carried by a Sukhoi Su-24 ‘Fencer’ bomber, this would, in theory, allow Ukraine to strike hardened targets as far away as Moscow (700 miles from the Su-24’s peacetime base at Starokostiantyniv).
And the Storm Shadow is optimised for use against hardened targets – its 225-kg (500-lb) BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge) multi-stage warhead having an initial WDU-44 shaped charge, which can cut through armour, concrete, earth, etc., with a larger WDU-45 second stage warhead then penetrating inside the target.
