Russia has acquired the warhead of a British Storm Shadow cruise missile, allowing its military to improve defences against the weapon in Ukraine, it has been claimed.
A man said to be a weapons engineer wearing camouflage and a balaclava can be seen inspecting the warhead and describing it on camera in video published by the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.
Britain began supplying “bunker-busting” Storm Shadow missiles to Kyiv in May last year. They have had a significant effect, extending the capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces and allowing deeper, more accurate strikes against invading Russian troops and hardware.
The intact warhead could have come from a missile that malfunctioned or was shot down.
Pointing at a grey metal object the size of a small gas cylinder, the Russian military engineer said it was the penetrating warhead of a Storm Shadow, also know by its French designation, Scalp.
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“The top part is the cap, then the primary charge and then the main warhead. It is necessary for the initial penetration of an obstacle,” he said, adding: “Due to the shaped-charge effect it makes holes into which the inertial warhead penetrates, and an explosion occurs. ”
Ria Novosti said that it had been told that “study of the rocket by Russian specialists will allow the adoption of counter measures for defence against such a weapon, including the creation of shelters with the necessary characteristics”.
The Times has approached the Ministry of Defence for comment. The Ukrainian air force has not responded to an approach for comment.
The Storm Shadow is a cruise missile launched from aircraft that was first used in combat in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It has a range of more than 250km (155 miles) and a multi-stage warhead, which consists of an initial penetrating charge to clear soil or enter a bunker, then a variable delay fuse to control detonation of the main warhead.
Lieutenant General Andry Semyonov, deputy commander of Russia’s aerospace forces, said on Friday that they were working to “immediately devise methods and adapt air defence systems to counter enemy missile strikes, as the Ukrainian armed forces increasingly use modern missile weapons produced by Nato countries”.
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He cited the Storm Shadow as an example, saying it was “able to stealthily approach the target at a minimum altitude with a terrain avoidance manoeuvre and performing a precise target approach by adjusting their trajectory via the satellite navigation system of the US and its allies”.
Storm Shadows were used in several major strikes on Russian forces in Ukraine in recent months.
In September, video showed a missile thought to be a Storm Shadow smashing into the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in occupied Crimea, after avoiding air defence batteries. In another strike on Sevastopol in Crimea in March, the missiles allegedly hit two warships.
The War Zone, a US military affairs website, said last year that if the Russians captured a whole Storm Shadow they would examine its engine, warhead and general construction “but its electronics, and primarily its targeting system, would be of the greatest interest”.
