French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the BBC that Ukraine can shoot French longer-range missiles into Russia in the “logics of self-defense.” The French Scalp missiles are the same as the UK’s Storm Shadow missiles, which Ukraine had already used in attacks on Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova tolt state media that Barrot’s comments are “not support for Ukraine, but rather a death knell for Ukraine.”
Barrot spoke after the United States greenlit the use of US-provided longer-range ATACMS missiles by Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine shot down dozens of Russian drones targeting regions across the country. On the other side, Russia said it had destroyed 34 Ukrainian drones over the Russian Kursk region next to Ukraine.
Zelensky signed a SCALP-EG that was brightly adorned with its designation in French flag colors and a Ukrainian coat of arms with the Eiffel Tower set in it as it hung off an Su-24 Fencer. SCALP-EG stands for “Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée – Emploi Général” or “Long Range Autonomous Cruise Missile System – General Purpose” in English. The missiles are built by MBDA.
SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow’s BROACH two-stage warhead can penetrate fortified targets and be used against bridges exceptionally well. The weapon’s fuzing can be set to a desired effect, but one tactic includes hitting a bridge deck at a shallow angle parallel to its direction, breaking through the deck, and then striking the pylon below. Simply cratering the bridge deck is another less complex and permanent option.
Their infrared seeker that uses image matching (DSMAC — Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator) is impossible to jam in the RF spectrum, and its passive nature, combined with the missile’s stealthy features, makes it a challenge to detect and mainly engage/shoot down, with it often being detected before its too late. And they may have gotten some help on inevitable strikes in the form of advanced decoys. That doesn’t mean some have not been lost to enemy fire or malfunction, though, and the wreckage subsequently exploited.
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