HISTORY

ADM-160 MALD decoy target used on 12 May in the

attack on Luhansk.

had received Storm Shadow cruise missiles,

capable of hitting targets at a range of more

than 250 km. This range is enough to hit virtually

all Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.

Wallace praised the scientists and engineers

who made it possible to integrate them onto

older Soviet-era aircraft used by the Ukrainian

Air Force – in this case, the Su-24.

Storm Shadow missile was jointly developed

by France and the UK in the 1990s and entered

service in 2002. The French use the name

SCALP-EG. The missile has a length of 5.1 m,

a span of 3 m and a weight of 1,300 kg. Once

launched, it drops and follows the terrain at low

level. It is powered by a jet engine, with which

it reaches a speed of Mach 0.8–0.9. It is guided

by GPS and target information is entered on the

ground before launch. Once launched, it cannot

be changed. Just before the target, the missile

starts to climb, drops the warhead cover and

is guided by an infrared camera that is hidden

under this cover during approach. Thanks to

it, it recognizes the target it has entered. If it

can’t find it, it aims for an open area to limit

collateral damage. Storm Shadow is designed

to destroy fortified targets like command posts,

airfield shelters, ammunition depots, as well as

ships and bridges. It has a twin warhead – the

first punches a hole in the target, the second

detonates with a delay until inside.

The missiles were successfully deployed by

Ukraine the following day. On Friday May 12,

they were used to destroy a fuel depot in the

city of Luhansk, which until then had been out

of range of Ukrainian weapons. Moreover, the

depot was not destroyed by a direct attack – the

missiles flew in an arc, turned behind Luhansk

and struck unexpectedly from behind, from

the east. Another interesting means supplied

from the West, the ADM-160 MALD deception

targets, were also used in the attack. These

flying decoys amplify their image on radar and

can pretend to be attacking aircraft of various

types, or cruise missiles. They thus draw the

attention of air defenses and allow a real attack

vehicle to stealthily penetrate.

Ben Wallace undoubtedly had a hand in

delivering these powerful weapons to Ukraine.

His colleague Oleksiy Reznikov therefore gave

him a postcard of a Su-24 with Storm Shadow

missiles at a joint meeting. Reznikov published

it on Thursday, May 25, in an unretouched

form. This is strange because the Ukrainian Air

Force tries to remove the aircraft’s identifying

features in all published images. In this case,

both the aircraft number and unit insignia were

left. The postcard is also decorated with a large

Ukrainian Su-24 with Storm Shadow missiles on a postcard signed by British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

July 2023

emblem of the 7th Tactical Air Force Brigade.

It did not take the Russians long to launch

a major missile attack on Sunday May 28 on

the Starokostiantyniv airbase in Khmelnytskyi

region, which is home to this unit. Stranger still,

the Ukrainians, who almost never report their

losses, immediately confirmed the destruction

of five Su-24s. Thanks in part to these oddities,

there was speculation that the destroyed planes

were in fact grounded, unairworthy wrecks, and

the whole action was just a decoy for Russian

missiles.

Drones over the Kremlin

Attacks similar to those on Luhansk have

been taking place all month across the occupied

territory in preparation for the Ukrainian

offensive. In addition, however, drone strikes

deep inside their territory have also attracted

the attention of the Russians. On Wednesday,

May 3, two drones even attacked the Kremlin

directly. Both were reportedly shot down by

air defenses, but one crashed into the dome

of one of the buildings and caused a small

fire. Moscow was also targeted at the end of

the month, on Wednesday May 31. According

to the official Russian statement, eight drones

were attacking, five were shot down and three

were disabled by jammers. What is certain is

that some of the “disabled” or “downed” drones

crashed on homes in an upscale neighborhood

in the south of the Russian capital.

To distract attention, Russian legions operating

in Ukraine also launched attacks across the

border in late May. Their aim is to overthrow

Putin, but these are strange bedfellows who

are close to neo-Nazis. However, they are up to

the task of unleashing chaos in the border area.

The Russian border guards were unable to stop

them, so they occupied several villages near

the border. They had to withdraw troops from

Ukrainian territory and deploy the air force

to dislodge them. However, this did not prove

very successful. An attack by a pair of Su34s on an occupied border guard building was

caught on a security camera, and the Russian

pilots certainly won’t put that mission behind

them. The planes attacked with a ground flight

with unguided bombs and instead of hitting the

building, they properly plowed the field far away

from it.

Despite the intense fighting, both sides

continued to exchange prisoners on a regular

basis. Some of these were also interesting

from the point of view of the air war over

Ukraine. For example, on Saturday, May 6, it

was announced that 45 soldiers had returned to

Ukraine, including 42 defenders of the Azovstal

steelworks in Mariupol. They were exchanged

for three Russian pilots. In this case, therefore,

the ratio for the exchange of prisoners was

one to 15.

INFO Eduard

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