On the occasion of Ukrainian Air Force Day, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, visited an air base and notably signed a SCALP-EG missile delivered by France. Chance of the calendar, on the same day, several of these missiles were again used on strategic bridges for the Russian Forces and their logistics.
Dedication
On August 6, a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was visible on social media (tweet below). It is possible to see the Ukrainian President dedicating a short-range air-to-surface missile SCALP-EG – or Long Range Autonomous Cruise and General Employment System – writing “Glory to Ukraine” (in Ukrainian). The cruise missile in question is attached under the right (starboard) wing of a Ukrainian Air Force Su-24M Fencer bomber. Note that the bomber was also equipped with a second missile (image below) delivered by the United Kingdom, namely a Storm Shadow (color of the English flag as well as the fin badge of the Ukrainian Air Force with Big Ben ).
If the Fencer was not originally designed to fire this missile, English and French engineers were able to help Ukrainian engineers develop and build a pylon allowing this formidable missile to be carried. As a reminder, the Ukrainians already have Storm Shadow missiles (English name of the SCALP-EG) after their UK delivery. This missile offers many advantages for the Ukrainians;
- Range greater than 250 kilometers (some say 400 kilometers range) offering a stand-off strike capability: at the time of release (depending on the objective), the Su-24s may be out of range of Russian anti-aircraft systems .
- Triple guidance system: in addition to a GPS system, the missile also uses an inertial navigation system (INS) as well as a terrain-referenced navigation system (the missile recognizes the terrain it must fly over).
- Discreet missile: it is not a stealth cruise missile but it is less visible by radar compared to other more conventional missiles. Moreover, it does not carry out a ballistic trajectory because once released, the missile plunges quickly towards the ground to reach an altitude of about thirty meters above the ground.
- Double warhead: a first warhead makes it possible to pierce, if necessary, a protection (the roof of a building, bunker,…). Very quickly afterwards (less than a few seconds), the main warhead explodes, allowing the objective to be destroyed from within. In total, the warhead would carry a warhead with a mass of 400 to 450 kg.
- All with metric precision!
