The new missiles give Ukraine plenty of additional offensive power, but Russia has ways to counter them.
The Storm Shadow cruise missiles received from Britain clearly improve Ukraine’s attack possibilities, says a docent at the Swedish National Defense University Thomas Ries.
The range of the missiles is at least 250 kilometers. So they reach anywhere in the territory occupied by Russia. Ukraine does not need a longer range, as it has promised not to use its long-range weapons on Russian territory. This is evident from a tweet by Clash Report, which follows the conflicts.
Ries, who also worked at the Finnish National Defense University, thinks that Ukraine could use cruise missiles in two stages when it prepares its expected counterattack.
– The first phase is related to all logistics. The missile’s targets can be roads, bridges, Russian weapons depots and transport equipment centers, says Ries.
The supply of Russian war material is heavily dependent on rail transport. When Ukraine managed to cut off the Kerch Strait bridge and the railway that ran through it last fall, Russia’s maintenance was in trouble.
Experts assume that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will head south, possibly towards the cities of Mariupol or Melitopol.
The map of southern Ukraine shows that there is only one railway running between the cities and further in the direction of Crimea. The railway crosses several bridges along the way. Cutting off even one would be a significant step forward for Ukraine, as Russia’s supply would immediately become difficult.
Command centers as targets
According to Ries, the second stage in the use of cruise missiles would be when the actual attack starts. At that time, the command and control centers of the Russian army would be attacked. Destroying them would slow down the Russian soldiers.
– The Russian army is very hierarchical. If orders do not come from a higher authority, it will paralyze the Russian military power and may cause panic among it.
Powerful but vulnerable
The Storm Shadow cruise missile was developed as a British-French collaboration and was put into service at the beginning of the 2000s. At that time it was a very high class cruise missile. Among other things, it has three different goal-seeking systems, which makes it difficult to target it with electronic jamming.
Expert in military technology Fabian Hoffmann has presented the missile’s features on his Twitter account. He considers it possible that the electronic capability of Russian air defense has developed so much that it could prevent at least satellite navigation.
Ukraine itself has said that it shot down many Russian Kalibr cruise missiles capable of supersonic speed with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. It is therefore possible that the Storm Shadow, which is slower than the speed of sound, is vulnerable to Russian air defense.
However, if the Storm Shadow manages to penetrate Russian air defenses, it will be a devastating weapon. The missile’s 400 kg warhead destroys even a large target.
In addition, Storm Shadow is able to penetrate, for example, even through a strong concrete wall and destroy control centers or weapons depots dug into the ground. The effectiveness of the missile is increased by its accuracy. Storm Shadow finds its target within a few meters.
More information about the missile In The Drive publication (you switch to another service).