Ukrainian Storm Shadow Missiles' Striking Russian Targets With "Pinpoint Accuracy"

Last year's Ukrainian threat to Russian logistics was the HIMARS system with a range of 50 miles. This year, Ukraine has been supplied with British Storm Shadow missiles which can hit targets 155 miles away - with pinpoint accuracy. 

The result has been further degradation of Russian logistics and command capabilities. JL 

Mia Jankowicz reports in Business Insider:

Storm Shadow missiles provided to Ukraine by the UK are striking their targets with nearly pinpoint accuracy. "The Storm Shadow has had a significant impact on the battlefield. Its accuracy and ability to deliver successfully the payload, as sent and designed by the Ukrainians, has been almost without fault." The air-launched missile has a range exceeding 155 miles and is designed to fly low after launch to evade detection. An onboard infrared target-seeking system recognizes targets for precision strike. The Storm Shadow's effect on the Russian army in Ukraine has been primarily on logistics, command and control.

Storm Shadow missiles provided to Ukraine by the UK are striking their targets with nearly pinpoint accuracy, sending Russian operations into disarray, the UK said Monday.

UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace said in a statement to the House of Commons that "the Storm Shadow missile has had a significant impact on the battlefield."

"Its accuracy and ability to deliver successfully the payload, as sent and designed by the Ukrainians, has been almost without fault," he added.

According to its manufacturer, MBDA, the air-launched missile has a range exceeding 155 miles and is designed to fly low after launch to evade detection.

 

An onboard infrared target-seeking system allows it to recognize planned targets for a precision strike, MBDA says. 

The missile's range means it can strike dramatically beyond the reach of the much-celebrated HIMARS launchers sent by the US to Ukraine, which were modified to keep their range within about 50 miles, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The Storm Shadow's effect on the Russian army in Ukraine has been primarily around its logistics, as well as command and control, Wallace said.

After being pummeled last year by HIMARS, Russian forces adapted by moving their command and control nodes out of range, Wallace told the UK Parliament.

 

This is "why deep fires became important," he said, urging Ukraine's allies to provide further long-range equipment. 

The UK announced in May that it would send an undisclosed number of Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.

By the end of that month, Ukraine said it was using the missile with a 100% strike success — a figure challenged by Russia, which said it had intercepted two of them, Reuters reported.

On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accused Ukraine of using the missiles to strike the Chonhar bridge, a key conduit connecting the Russian-held Kherson to Crimea, The Telegraph reported.

 

Ukraine did not immediately claim responsibility for the strike, which extensively damaged the bridge. But a defense-intelligence spokesperson nonetheless promised "more of this," according to the newspaper.

A strike on the bridge using a Storm Shadow missile would be within the bounds of the UK's conditions for Ukraine's use of the weapon, which is intended to be fired on Ukrainian territory only — a long-held condition of Western-provided military aid.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, but it nonetheless remains recognized as a Ukrainian sovereign territory by the vast majority of the international community.

Russia, however, had warned that strikes on Crimea using Western-supplied weapons "would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict." It also threatened retaliation on "decision-making centers in Ukraine," The Telegraph reported.