First it was drones and then HIMARS. With depressing regularity, a new wonder weapon has been touted as a game-changer for Ukraine, only for its luster to dim as Russia adapts to it.
The latest example is the Storm Shadow, an air-launched cruise missile developed by the UK and France that Ukraine has used to spectacular effect, notably in a strike in June that damaged the vital Chonhar bridge between the Crimean peninsula and southern Ukraine.
Some observers believe Storm Shadow will be crucial to Ukraine’s counteroffensive. The missile’s 155-mile range allows Ukrainian jets to launch it while staying out of range of Russian air defenses. In addition to a 1,000-pound warhead and stealth features, Storm Shadow has multiple guidance systems, including GPS, inertial guidance, and terrain-following radar, that enable it to avoid detection by flying just a few hundred feet above the ground.
“They’re effective weapons,” Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on a July 14 episode of the Geopolitics Decanted podcast, recorded while visiting Ukraine. “They’re difficult to intercept, and it gives Ukraine, to put it crudely, a much longer stick.”
A British Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 loaded with four Storm Shadow missiles during a test over the Atlantic Ocean. Cpl Mark Parkinson/UK Ministry of Defence
While HIMARS initially proved devastating in Ukrainian attacks on supply depots and command posts, the Russian military was able to adapt — though at some cost to efficiency — through use of electronic warfare and by moving logistical sites and headquarters out of range of HIMARS’ guided rockets.
There have been reports of successful Storm Shadow strikes in the weeks since the attack on the Chonhar bridge, including the killing of a senior Russian commander and an attack on a Russian vehicle repair depot in Crimea.
Credit: Yahoo News