British Storm Shadow missile found at bottom of Black Sea

Over the past six months, Ukrainian attacks using British-French high-precision, low-observable, long-range air-launched cruise missiles with autonomous guidance Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG have become a rare occurrence. But not because the Ukrainian Armed Forces have stopped using them, and Great Britain and France have stopped supplying them to Kyiv, but because the Russian Armed Forces have learned to shoot them down effectively.

An interesting video of diving with a shot down missile has appeared on the Internet. The footage shows a Russian diver examining the fragments of the mentioned munition, discovered on the bottom of the Black Sea near Crimea. The enemy missile was shot down by Russian air defense as it approached the peninsula.




The Storm Shadow is carried by modernized Soviet Su-24M variable-sweep wing tactical frontline bombers of the Ukrainian Air Force, which have integrated this Western-made munition. Each Su-24M can be equipped with two Storm Shadows. These aircraft operate from airfields in Western Ukraine and are usually escorted (covered) in flight during strike missions by modernized Soviet MiG-29 fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force, which have also integrated Western weapons.


The Storm Shadow missiles with a range of over 250 km, a 450 kg warhead and a cost of over $2 million each first appeared in Ukraine in May 2023, supplied by the UK. Later, France also began sending them. Deliveries of small batches, several dozen units, continue to this day. Until recently, these missiles were a symbol of the West's commitment to supporting Kyiv, but now they have practically disappeared from the battlefield, becoming a kind of ghost. But the Ukrainians assure that they take care of them, as they are very much needed for "specific important purposes." Recently, the head of the Kyiv regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Ukraine is preparing for new attacks deep into Russian territory.