September 13, 2024 | 00.09
READING TIME: 1 minute
Storm Shadow (Scalp for the French) are Franco-British cruise missiles with a maximum range of 250 kilometers. They have already been supplied to Kiev by London and Paris, but with the ban on their use in Russian territory that should be lifted soon.
It is considered the ideal system for penetrating armored bunkers and ammunition warehouses in Russia. Each missile costs nearly a million dollars, so they are usually used in well-planned attacks, such as the raid on the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol. They make the entire Crimea unsafe for the Russian Navy.
Kiev asks to be able to use them against Russian military bases far from the border, in Russia, from which attacks are launched with glide bombs or aircraft. With drones Kiev can in fact reach very deep into Russian territory. But they can only carry a small load and many are intercepted.
For this, Ukraine needs missiles like the Storm Shadow, or the American Atacms, which have an even greater range, 300 kilometers. However, Moscow has moved its bases or important targets even further east in recent months, out of the reach of missiles like the Storm Shadow. A move that, however, makes each exit more expensive.
The Atacms already transferred by the US to Kiev by surprise last spring, on the condition that they will be used only on Ukrainian territory, produced by Lokheed Martin, are no longer purchased by the US military, the inventory is limited and close to the point where the United States could have problems with their reserves. A few hundred units are still produced each year, but they are sold abroad. The new US system, Precision Strike Missile, has only now begun to be deployed but in limited numbers.
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