INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Over the past few weeks, Ukraine has been smashing Russian military targets using an ultra-precise cruise missile built by the
British that was "designed to hit Saddam Hussein in his bathroom", according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.The British Storm Shadow
missile can hit targets more than 150 miles away with pinpoint accuracy
The cruise missile is so precise that in its first use, during the 2003 Gulf War, one Storm Shadow punched a hole in the side of a building
and then another one followed through the same hole.The UK recently supplied Kyiv with an undisclosed number of the missiles, putting in
range Russian military infrastructure that had been out of reach so far
Meanwhile, the US is mulling supplying Ukraine with the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which has a range of 190 miles
Washington has so far not sent the missiles to Kyiv out of fear that they may be used to hit targets inside Russian territory, thus
Russian-occupied parts of the country.Before the British cruise missile, Ukraine's missile offensive largely depended on US-made High
Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars)
The truck-based weapon has a strike range of at most 50 miles
An effective weapons systemWhile Himars forced Russia to pull supplies and bases back from front lines to avoid being hit, Storm Shadow has
compelled Moscow to rethink its logistics, said the report in the Wall Street Journal.In June, Ukraine used Storm Shadows to cripple a
bridge that Russia relied on to supply its troops in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia region
Days earlier, the missile destroyed a large Russian ammunition stockpile near the village of Ryokove.Official Russian press and social-media
channels have carried accounts of how Storm Shadow has struck buildings across occupied parts of Ukraine and even killed a Russian
high-precision, long-range strikes.In May, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Storm Shadow has a 100% success rate in hitting
A Russian-installed official in occupied Ukraine told Russian state news agency TASS that the missile is "hard to shoot down".Unequalled
precisionStorm Shadow and Scalp are produced by a British-French-Italian company, MBDA
They use a mix of guidance systems that help them evade enemy jamming, maneuver and reach their targets.Ukraine is launching the missile
from Sukhoi fighter jets, the first time it has been carried by a non-Western aircraft.Unlike better known US Tomahawk cruise missiles,
which are often fired in large salvos, Storm Shadow is designed to be fired in small numbers to hit very specific targets, such as the ones
Ukraine has focused on.It can be set for delayed detonation, allowing it to penetrate a fortification or building and only explode once deep
inside, providing a better chance of killing human targets such as soldiers or military officials.The capability is linked to a challenge
potential intelligence, like word that Iraqi dictator Hussein was in a bathroom deep inside one of his palaces.Not an endless supplyThe UK
has been in the forefront of supplying Ukraine with the weapons it needs to push back Russian forces.It was the first to dispatch anti-tank
The UK was also the first to send its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, which prompted the US and other allies to follow suit
The British Storm Shadow is the longest range missile that Ukraine currently has
France, which produces a twin version of the missile called Scalp, said it is considering sending the longer-range missiles.Germany
It had roughly 822 Storm Shadows in its arsenal before the start of the war
tank in London, wrote in a paper on the weapon.(With inputs from agencies)
