28 April, 2024

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence plans to invest in accelerating the production of Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

The Times reported on this with reference to Grant Shapps, UK’s Minister of Defense.

Amid rising defense spending, the Minister wants defense companies in the kingdom to increase production rates.

To this end, it plans to invest in expanding production capacity to provide Britain and Ukraine with the ability to deliver devastating strikes with these missiles.

“Defense companies such as MBDA UK must be put on a ‘military footing’ to help Britain face an increasingly dangerous world,” the Minister said.

The assembly of Storm Shadow missiles takes place at the British enterprise MBDA UK, located near the city of Stevenage.

There, missiles are assembled from separate parts produced by France, Britain, and Italy. The article states that the cost of one Storm Shadow missile is GBP 2.2 million.

Previously, the Government of the United Kingdom decided to increase the country’s defense budget by 2.5% of GDP.

Storm Shadow missile on the Typhoon fighter. 2021. Photo credits: EPS

This will increase it to GBP 87 billion and provide the armed forces with new weapons and full support.

In total, he said, the defense sector would receive an extra £75bn from the government over six years.

The budget increase will also make it possible to put the country’s defense on a military basis and help Ukraine resist Russian aggression.

“The axis of autocratic states, such as Russia, Iran, and China, is increasingly cooperating to undermine democracies and change the world order. They are also investing heavily in their own troops, cyber potential, and low-cost technologies, such as the Shahed drones that Iran has fired at Israel,” the government stated.

Britain wants to accelerate the production of Storm Shadow missiles