French missiles pave way for Ukrainian strikes in Russia

Ukrainians obtained permission from France, which, unlike the Americans, allowed them to attack targets in the Russian Kursk and Belgorod regions using long-range weapons. Here’s what the Ukrainians can now use.

The French gave permission to use SCALP cruise missiles, which are the French twin of the Storm Shadow missiles, to attack targets located in the Russian Kursk and Belgorod regions.

This is concerning news for the Russians, as so far the Ukrainians have been using these missiles with great success to attack Russian strategic targets in Crimea and beyond.

SCALP cruise missiles are the French twin of the Storm Shadow missiles. The missile, produced by the MBDA corporation since the early 2000s, is the result of British-French cooperation from the 1990s.

The outcome is a stealth technology cruise missile launched from an aircraft with a range of about 500 kilometres (or about 300 kilometres for export customers due to Missile Technology Control Regime limitations). In the Ukrainians' case, the carriers are cleverly modified Su-24 aircraft.

Storm Shadow / SCALP missiles are equipped with a turbojet engine, allowing subsonic speeds (0.8-0.9 Ma), and their weight is 1,300 kilograms, of which about 450 kilograms is the BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge) warhead.

The BROACH warhead is multifunctional and consists of two parts. The first is a small shaped charge, designed to expose the target or damage its structure. The second part is a penetrating warhead that detonates with a delay of up to 240 milliseconds. This is set in the Multi-Application Fuze Initiation System (MAFIS) fuse before the missile is launched based on the target's structure (for example, based on the estimated thickness of reinforced concrete). The warhead can operate in three modes:

1. Impact detonation,
2. Airburst detonation, scattering the area with fragments,
3. Delay detonation

The precision of the missile's hit is ensured by an advanced guidance system, combining inertial and satellite navigation with the fourth-generation IR (IIR) sensor that sees the thermal image of the target. This, in addition to ensuring pinpoint accuracy in the final phase of flight (the sensor compares the seen image with a preloaded target photo), also helps track the terrain.

Thanks to this, the missile's computer knows exactly where it is even in the case of GPS signal jamming, which the Russians have mastered. This is a functionality that causes a lot of problems for some types of American weapons, such as GLSDB.