According to Ben Wallace, the UK Defence Secretary, the deployment of Storm Shadow missiles in Ukraine has had a significant impact on the ongoing military operations. Wallace expressed this opinion during a hearing in the House of Commons.
The Defence Secretary praised the extraordinary accuracy and precision of the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, emphasising their exceptional performance.
“From what I understand, the Storm Shadow missile has had a significant impact on the battlefield. Its accuracy and ability to successfully deliver the payload sent and designed by the Ukrainians was almost flawless. This is an extraordinary achievement both in terms of engineering and in terms of the fact that the Ukrainians have deployed it and used it as intended,” he said in his speech to the House of Commons.
In addition, the Defence Minister noted that the main targets hit by Storm Shadow were logistics and command and control centres of the Russian army. He called on international partners to provide Ukraine with additional support in the form of long-range weapons.
“When HIMARS was fitted to the M270s, which have a range of 80km, it had a similar effect and the Russians moved many C2 nodes out of range, which is why deep fire strikes became important. The key is to realise that if the Russians move out of range, we have to work together internationally to provide the equipment to bring them back into range,” the US Secretary of Defence explained.
Mr Wallace stressed the importance of international cooperation in providing the right equipment to counter Russian forces if they try to move out of range of long-range weapons.
MBDA, the manufacturer of the air-launched missile, says the Storm Shadow has a range of more than 250 km and is specially designed to fly at low altitude after launch to avoid detection.
According to MBDA, the missile is equipped with an advanced infrared targeting system that allows it to accurately identify pre-defined targets, which facilitates precision strikes.
The long range of this missile allows it to hit targets far beyond the capabilities of the well-known HIMARS launchers deployed by the United States in Ukraine with modifications that limit their range to about 80 km.
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