November 10, 2024
French defense minister Lecornu promised to deliver additional SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Mistral air defense missiles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
France will send a batch of around ten SCALP air-launched cruise missiles to Ukraine, the shipment is currently being readied, French Minister of Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu stated in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, RBC-Ukraine reports.
“To allow Ukraine to strike behind the front line, in recent days I have signed a new transfer of about 10 SCALP missiles, as promised by the French President to Volodymyr Zelenskyi,” minister Lecornu said.
Alongside the SCALPs, Paris will allocate Mistral air defense missile systems (range: 6 km) for small units and continue with the training of Ukrainian troops in France. There are currently around 2,000 Ukrainian personnel trained on French equipment.
The decision to provide SCALP, a joint British-French development, to Ukraine comes against the background of recent delays of their supply from the United Kingdom. The UK Royal Air Force operates the version called Storm Shadow, nearly identical to SCALP. Both are manufactured by MBDA and feature an operational range of 250 km (155 mi) in the modification for export.
For months, Ukraine’s been urging allies to allow their weapons to strike deeper inside russia. France yielded and gave consent. The United Kingdom, however, did not.
Moreover, even long-range strikes within allowed borders are becoming beyond available: there has been a tangible delay in providing this weapon from the government of Keir Starmer who entered his position as UK Prime Minister in July 2024, according to Ukrainian officials talking privately to The Guardian.
“It isn’t happening. Starmer isn’t giving us long-range weapons. The situation is not the same as when Rishi Sunak was prime minister. The relationship has got worse,” the anonymous figure in Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s administration told the British journalists. The official added: “You would know if the UK had provided us with new Storm Shadow missiles because we would be using them to hit russian targets. We are not.”
The last assumed use of Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles is dated October 5 this year, several more more were used earlier in March during the strike on the russian naval base in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, which hit two russian landing ships, the Azov and Yamal, as well as a communications center. Since then, the number of Storm Shadow/SCALP attacks has dwindled.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyi met Keir Starmer this Thursday, November 7th, during a European political summit in Budapest. The meeting, however, has not yet resulted in any decisions on the long-range weapons announced on the part of the UK.
Earlier, Defense Express pointed out the effectiveness of the Storm Shadow/SCALP attacks in March 2024, foreshadowing a whole avalanche of potential consequences for the russian navy.
Also, we analyzed what’s the American-provided data that is used in Storm Shadow and makes a major reason for the UK withholding its permission for deep strikes into russia; and took a look at how Ukrainian bombers ensure their safety when launching missile strikes using this weapon.
French Scalps have not been used at full range for the same reason as the Storm Shadows: the US controls the tech behind the GPS trajectory. They are slow-moving cruise missiles and vulnerable to putinaZi air defence without that tech.
Starmer is meeting Macron today to try to find a workaround. But it probably depends on Biden giving permission.
I hope that the Europeans have learned a valuable lesson from all of this: Never place all your bets on one horse. Even the United States can become an unreliable partner. All it takes is one patheic coward in the Oval Office, or an arsehole.
I have a friend in LA who is a Dem activist and he says that internal gossip is that Biden is furious with Kamala for ousting him; with the significant help of George Clooney. Clooney has already declared that he is stepping down from politics, so he must have been pressured out. Apparently Biden was not exactly broken up when Kamala lost either.
Whether Biden might want to actually do something before he steps out into the sunset; such as help Ukraine, remains to be seen. He does still have a chance to do something useful before team putler takes over.
Without a serious gesture now, his legacy will be truly awful.
I doubt that Biden will quickly grow a set of balls.