Military Knowledge: Storm Shadow Cruise Missile

Thursday 20 July 2023 - 20:46

https://english.iswnews.com/?p=29344

Storm Shadow cruise missile is a medium-range, stealth air-launched cruise missile that weighs 1,300 kg and has a maximum range of 560 km. The origin of this missile goes back to UK and France; But since 2001, it has been produced by MBDA, a European multinational missile developer and manufacturer.

History
In July 1996, the Storm Shadow design presented by two companies, Matra and British Aerospace, won a heavy competition among 6 other designs from powerful companies McDonnell Douglas, Texas Instruments/Short Brothers, Hughes/Smiths Industries, Daimler-Benz Aerospace/Bofors, GEC-Marconi and Rafael. A development and production contract was signed in February 1997, by which time Matra and BAe had completed the merger of their missile businesses to form Matra BAe Dynamics. France ordered 500 SCALP missiles in January 1998.

It is worth noting that since 2001 and after the merger of Matra BAe Dynamics with the Italian company Alenia, this missile is developed and produced under the multinational company MBDA.

This missile is known as “Storm Shadow” in UK and SCALP-EG in France. SCALP-EG in French stands for “Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée – Emploi Général” and its English translation is “Long Range Autonomous Cruise Missile System General Purpose”.

The Storm Shadow missile was used for the first time in 2003 during the Iraq war by the Tornado GR4 fighter jet of the British Royal Air Force.

On November 27, 2013, this missile was tested on the Eurofighter Typhoon at the Decimomannu Air Base in Italy for a range of 250 km. This test was conducted by Alenia Aermacchi in the framework of a phase 2 improvement program for Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

**Typhoon fighter jet carrying two storm shadow missiles**

Design
The Storm Shadow cruise missile was developed is based on French-developed Apache anti-runway cruise missile. These two missiles are similar in terms of aerodynamics and stealth, but the Storm Shadow missile uses a different engine and its warhead is integrated with high penetration power, while the warhead of the Apache cruise missile is a cluster munition.

The air-launched version of Storm Shadow missile has a weight of 1300 kg, of which 450 kg is the warhead. The maximum diameter of the body is 63 cm, the distance between its two wings is 3 meters and the length of the missile is 5.1 meters. This missile reaches a maximum speed of Mach 0.8 (equivalent to 980 km/h at sea level) and a range of 560 km using a French TRI 60-30 engine with a power of 5.3 kilonewtons. It should be noted that in export versions, the range of this missile is limited to 300 km.

This missile uses a two-stage warhead to penetrate the targets. This warhead, known as BROACH, is installed on two other missiles, AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and AGM-86 ALCM, in addition to the Storm Shadow. The two stage warhead is made up from an initial shaped charge, which cuts a passage through armour, concrete, earth, etc., allowing a larger following warhead to penetrate inside the target.

Combat records
As mentioned earlier, the Storm Shadow missile was first used in combat in 2003 by Tornado fighter jets belonging to the 617 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force during the international invasion of Iraq.

During the 2011 military intervention in Libya, SCALP-EG missiles were fired by French Air Force Rafale fighter jets and Storm Shadow missiles by Tornadoes of the Italian Air Force and the British Royal Air Force at targets including Al Jafra Air Base and a military shelter in Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown. In December 2011, Italian defense officials noted that during the military intervention in Libya, Tornado fighter jets had fired between 20 and 30 Shadow Storm missiles, with a 97% success rate. This was the first time that Italian aircraft test-fired this missile in a real battle.

On December 15, 2015 and January 2, 2016, French fighter jets fired twelve rounds of SCALP missiles at ISIS targets in Syria.

On June 26, 2016, the British Royal Air Force, using a Tornado fighter jet, fired four Storm Shadow missiles at ISIS targets in Iraq.

In October 2016, the UK government confirmed that Storm Shadow missiles sold to Saudi Arabia had been used by Saudi Arabia in the conflict in Yemen.

In April 2018, the UK government announced that it had used Storm Shadow missiles (probably using Dassault Rafale fighters) to attack an alleged chemical weapons manufacturing facility in Himm Shinshar in Syria’s Homs province.

It is also said that during the second Libyan war, the Emirati Mirage and Egyptian Rafale fighter jets may have used Storm Shadow missiles to attack Al-Watia Air Base in July 2020.

In March 2021, two Royal Air Force FGR4 Typhoon jets attacked a group of ISIS caves near Erbil using a Storm Shadow missile, And the first combat use of the Storm Shadow was recorded by Typhoon fighter jet.

After the United Kingdom announced that it would deliver the Storm Shadow missile to Ukraine in 2023, this missile entered the Russian-Ukrainian battles. According to video documentation, these missiles are fired by Ukrainian Sukhoi-24 fighter jets.

*An image of the combat use of Shadow Storm missile on the Ukrainian Sukhoi-24 fighter jet*

Variants of Storm Shadow missiles
Apart from the export version with a range of 250 km and the original version with a range of 560 km, which is in the service of the British and French armies, the Storm Shadow missile has other versions:

Black Shaheen:
Developed by France for export to the United Arab Emirates for use with its Mirage 2000, modifications were made to reduce the range reportedly to 290 km (160 nmi; 180 mi) in order to comply with Missile Technology Control Regime guidelines.

MdCN or SCALP Naval cruise missile:
In 2006, the French division of MBDA began the development of a long-range vertical-launch cruise missile to be deployed on a new series of French warships and complement the conventional SCALP missiles. This missile, which is called “Missile de Croisière Naval (MdCN)” in French, is called “Naval Cruise Missile” in English.
The MdCN missile with a range of more than 1000 km plays the same role as the American Tomahawk for the French. In addition to longer range, MdCN naval cruise missile has independent navigation function and final phase guidance with the help of infrared detection. In terms of appearance, this missile has many differences with the conventional version of Storm Shadow. This missile is made in a cylindrical shape and the wings are also folded into the body.
The SCALP Naval missile has a length of 6.5 meters, a diameter of 50 centimeters and a wingspan of 2.85 meters. The weight of this missile is 1400 kg, of which 200 kg is the warhead. The engine of this missile is micro-turbojet TR50 and the speed of the missile reaches 1000 km/h using this engine.

Specifications of MdCN Naval Cruise Missile:
Type: Land-attack missile, Submarine-launched cruise missile
Length: 6.5 meters
Diameter: 50 cm
Wingspan: 2.85 meters
Weight: 1400 kg
Warhead weight: 200 kg
Speed: 1000 km/h
Engine: Turbojet TRI50
Range: more than 1000 km
Launch platforms: FREMM-class frigates, Barracuda-class submarines, and Scorpène-class submarines
Produced: MBDA France

*Missile de Croisière Naval (MdCN) / Naval Cruise Missile*

The MdCN missile is installed on six French FREMM-class frigates, Barracuda-class submarines and smaller submarines such as the Scorpène-class. This missile is launched in frigates through the Sylver launcher and in submarines through the 533 mm torpedo launch tube.

**SCALP Naval missile fired from the Sylver launcher**

The first successful launch of the MdCN missile was carried out in July 2013, at the Biscarosse test range, and it was able to pass all test stages in three launches.

The MdCN missile was used in the first real battlefield operation in 2018 against alleged Syrian chemical weapons production sites in Damascus and Homs. In this operation, France launched 10 SCALP cruise missiles using five Dassault Rafale fighters and three SCALP Naval missiles using FREMM class frigates. In this operation, due to technical problems and lack of coordination, two frigates failed to fire missiles and only one frigate managed to launch a missile, and out of 10 missiles, one missile had a problem and fell into the sea.

The first Barracuda-class submarine named FS Suffren, which was launched on October 20, 2020, successfully fired its first MdCN missile in the same year 2020. Considering the problems that arose in 2018 for the launch of the SCALP Naval missile, the successful launch of this missile was an indication of solving the coordination problems of this sea cruise with its marine launcher platforms.

*Barracuda-class submarine FS Suffren that successfully test-fired SCALP Naval cruise missile*

Specifications of Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG cruise missile:
Type: Air-launched cruise missile
Length: 5.10 meters
Width: 630 mm
Wingspan: 3 meters
Weight: 1300 kg
Warhead weight: 450 kg
Engine: Turbojet TRI 60-30
Speed: ~ 1000 km/h
Range: 560 km (in export versions up to 300 km)
Guidance: GPS – INS – IIR – TERPROM
Launch platforms: Tornado, Mirage 2000, Rafale, Typhoon fighter jets
Origin: France and UK (MBDA company)