Ukraine strikes key Russian rocket fuel plant with rare missiles
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have confirmed an attack on the Russian "Kamensky Combine" facility located just 170 kilometres from the front line. We explain why it is crucial for the Russian defence industry.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed that on 18 December 2024, they attacked the Russian Kamensky Combine in the Rostov region. It is one of the key chemical plants for the Russians dating back to the Soviet era. The attack utilised a mix of Storm Shadow cruise missiles and MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles.
These are very rare means of attack in the Ukrainian arsenal, but they were necessary for the targeted objective. The Kamensky Combine is one of the main Russian producers of rocket fuel used in systems such as the Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Topol-M, and rockets for multiple launch rocket systems like the BM-27 Uragan, BM-30 Smerch, and Tornado-S.
All these systems require solid rocket fuel, which forms a solid body consisting of a powdered oxidiser and a combustible substance acting as a binder, bonding everything together. Solid rocket fuel can be homogeneous, based on nitrocellulose, or heterogeneous, a mixture of various agents.
The Ukrainian drones are not very suitable for attacking heavily defended areas, and the area around the Kamensky Combine is likely one of them. Therefore, the Ukrainians had to use weapons capable of penetrating Russian air defences and destroying key targets. The only means were the Storm Shadow cruise missiles and the MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles.
Storm Shadow — Ukraine's long arm from Europe
Storm Shadow are air-launched missiles (from Su-24s in Ukraine's case) with a range of up to about 500 kilometres (300 kilometres for export versions), equipped with a 450-kilogram BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge) warhead. It consists of two elements: a shaped charge for surfacing or initially damaging the target's surface and a penetrating part of the warhead.
This is equipped with a Multi-Application Fuze Initiation System (MAFIS), which can be set with a delay of up to 240 ms or, for example, to detonate mid-air, showering a significant area with fragments. The missile itself is designed using stealth technology, and its turbojet engine allows for flight speeds in the range of 0.8-0.9 Mach.
The most interesting part is the guidance system, which goes beyond the common tandem of inertial navigation and satellite navigation. It also includes a fourth-generation infrared sensor (IIR) that sees the thermal image of the target or terrain. This allows pinpoint accuracy and the ability to track the terrain, which is then compared to a pre-loaded map. This enables very precise navigation that is resistant to GPS jamming.
MGM-140 ATACMS — Russia's ballistic nightmare from the USA
Ukraine has been using American MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles with great success, with the first versions produced in the 1990s. So far, Ukrainians have attacked Russians using M39 missiles with a range of 165 kilometres containing a payload of 950 M74 APAM bomblets.
However, it is possible that in recent deliveries, they have received M39A1 variants with a range of 300 kilometres and enhanced GPS guidance, or models from the M48, M57, and M57E1 families. These are equipped with a heavy WAU-23/B warhead weighing about 200 kilograms, better suited for attacking fortified targets.
A huge advantage of ATACMS missiles is their flight speed, reaching Mach 3 (3,700 km/h), combined with an attack profile that Russian anti-ballistic systems, including the latest S-400 Triumph, cannot manage.
