Russia claimed on Thursday it has secured a downed Storm Shadow missile almost intact in Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, potentially offering Moscow a look into the high-tech weapon supplied by the UK to Ukraine.
Russian media outlets report that the BARS-11 volunteer detachment and the Tsar's Wolves captured a mostly intact Storm Shadow cruise missile. The reports quote Dmitry Rogozin, former head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, who now leads the Tsar's Wolves science and technology center in charge of testing and supplying weapons for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Rogozin, referring to the missile as a "trophy," stated that it fell without exploding, and Ukraine tried to shell the area to prevent Russian forces from retrieving the Storm Shadow parts. He alleges that these attempts were quickly quelled and the parts were successfully retrieved. "The two-day operation to evacuate the captured Storm Shadow has been successfully completed," a caption for a Telegram post read.
The missile was meticulously disassembled on the battlefield by technical specialists, separating its high-explosive and cumulative parts for ease of transportation. Rogozin was quoted by local media as saying the missile's high-tech electronics, particularly the guidance module, are of great value.
"The missile has just been handed over to one of our defense enterprises, who will "decipher" the algorithms of the control system of this dangerous missile and share with air defense experts," he added.
Rogozin's Telegram channel shared a video on Thursday showing Russian troops loading a vehicle with what appears to be parts of a Storm Shadow missile.
"I hope the 'trepanation' of this missile's control system will allow Russian specialists to quickly develop an antidote and tame the British-French storm", he says in his Telegram post.
The Storm Shadow missile, a joint product of British and French expertise, is a low-observable, long-range air-launched cruise missile. Its development began in 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and it is now produced by MBDA. Weighing approximately 1,300 kilograms (2,900 lb), the missile is equipped with a conventional 450-kilogram warhead. The Storm Shadow is powered by a Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet engine, propelling it at Mach 0.8 speeds and enabling it to cover a range of around 560 kilometers (350 miles).
