Britain’s giving Ukraine access to secret missile technology. Will it make a difference?

Britain will allow the release of classified technology so that a British/French-designed cruise missile can be manufactured in Ukraine, a boost for Kyiv in its efforts to bring more firepower to bear hundreds of kilometers into Russia.

Paris and Kyiv want to set up a Ukrainian production line for the SCALP air-launched cruise missile, known as the Storm Shadow in the United Kingdom, by the end of the year. The declassification of information on British-made components of the missiles, announced Monday, is a key step towards that goal.

Made by European arms manufacturer MBDA, SCALP is a conventionally armed, long-range, deep-strike weapon, of which Ukraine has used imported versions with success against hardened targets, including in November 2024, when they were fired at targets inside Russia for the first time.

Powered by a turbojet engine, it has a maximum range of 550 kilometers (342 miles) and can carry a 400-kilogram (880 pounds) high-explosive penetrating warhead, according to the Missile Threat project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Once launched, the missile uses a combination of internal, global positioning and terrain reference navigation coupled with “infrared seeker and automatic target recognition algorithms” to achieve a high degree of accuracy in all weather conditions, according to the CSIS.

Carl Court/Getty Images

The SCALP is fired from Ukraine’s Su-24 or Mirage 2000 fighter jets and attempts to avoid air defenses by hugging the terrain during flight.

Its use for Ukraine will be in striking buried military targets, like command bunkers, something more challenging for the lighter weight drones Kyiv has been using to hit more exposed targets like oil refineries or warehouses.

The Kremlin reacted angrily to the announcement, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the UK was “participating in the war” and “pouring fuel on the fire.”

His statement came after the Russian embassy in London warned the UK last week that “the deeper its involvement” and “the greater its support” for Ukraine, the “higher the price it will pay.”

Britain and France have not announced how many SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles have been supplied to Ukraine to date, but in 2025 manufacturer MBDA reactivated production lines that had been shuttered for 15 years.

“Supplied to Ukraine, the Franco-British SCALP/Storm Shadow missile has demonstrated its effectiveness in modern high-intensity combat, in decisive situations,” French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said at the time.

Even with the UK announcement, it could take several years for production to scale up, but British Prime Minister Andy Burnham says London is backing Kyiv for the long haul.

“The Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: the UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes,” Burnham said in a press release Monday announcing that the UK would release its missile technology.

“Ukraine’s security is our security,” said the prime minister, who arrived in Kyiv on Monday for Ukraine’s independence day, in his first overseas trip since taking office on July 20.

Ukrainian Presidency

Zelensky said he was “grateful” to Burnham for his support, saying that he awarded Burnham with the “first new state distinction: Gratitude of the Ukrainian People.”

The two countries signed an agreement to “develop their partnership in the field of artificial intelligence,” Zelensky said.

While in Ukraine, Burnham co-chaired a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, a 34-nation international alliance formed last year by Britain and France to support Ukraine in the war as US aid waned under the Trump administration.

The alliance promised to boost Ukraine’s air defenses on Monday, with Burnham saying Monday that Kyiv’s allies need to do “everything we can” to supply more air defenses.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who joined the meeting remotely, said that the last few weeks have clearly showed that Kyiv’s allies “need to accelerate delivery of interceptors,” adding that his country will accelerate “everything that we have available.”

Macron also confirmed that the first full-scale military exercises of the Coalition of the Willing will be conducted in October and November. They will involve British and French forces and take place in Poland.

What the SCALP can’t address is Ukraine’s shortage of defensive missiles, like the US-designed Patriot system, a vulnerability exposed with devastating consequences in recent weeks as Russia has launched large waves of its own missiles and drones in attacks that have killed dozens of Ukrainians.

CNN visited a Patriot battery in Ukraine earlier this month and was told that it had not been fired in weeks because no interceptors were available.

Ukraine has asked for permission to manufacture the Patriot interceptors in the country, an idea US President Donald Trump initially supported in early July but later backtracked on.

The Trump administration has also rebuffed Ukrainian attempts to acquire long-range US Tomahawk cruise missiles, stocks of which have been taxed by the war in Iran.

Ukraine’s domestic missile production has not stood still, however.

Thomas Trutschel/dpa/AP

Ukrainian manufacturer Fire Point has developed the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile.

With a range of 3,000 kilometers, it can strike deep inside Russia, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month it was used to hit a key Russian rocket electronics facility some 900 kilometers from Ukraine’s border.

The Ukrainian leader said the Flamingo made its combat debut in 2025, and open-source intelligence reports indicate its use has been on the increase this year.

Fire Point has also developed long-range drones to go along with shorter range ballistic missiles.

Kyiv’s use of longer-range weapons has turned Russia’s sprawling land mass, once considered a military advantage, into a problem for Moscow as it struggles to allocate limited defensive weaponry to the increasing number of targets within Ukraine’s range, Peter Dickinson, editor of the Atlantic Council’s Ukraine Alert blog , wrote earlier this month.

“A long line of would-be conquerors have invaded Russia only for their armies to swallowed up by the vastness of the country. Ukraine is now attempting to turn this military logic on its head with a strategic bombing campaign that aims to exploit Russia’s immensity and transform it from a key strength into a fatal weakness,” Dickinson wrote.

CNN’s Darya Tarasova, Victoria Butenko and Ivana Kottasova contributed reporting.

英国将允许泄露机密技术，以便在乌克兰制造英法联合设计的巡航导弹，这将极大地帮助基辅向俄罗斯境内数百公里外的地区提供更强大的火力。

巴黎和基辅希望在年底前在乌克兰建立一条生产SCALP空射巡航导弹（在英国被称为“风暴阴影”）的生产线。周一宣布的有关英国制造的导弹部件信息的解密，是实现这一目标的关键一步。

SCALP 是由欧洲武器制造商 MBDA 制造的常规武器，是一种远程纵深打击武器。乌克兰曾成功使用进口版本攻击加固目标，包括 2024 年 11 月首次向俄罗斯境内目标发射该武器。

根据战略与国际研究中心 (CSIS) 的导弹威胁项目，该导弹由涡轮喷气发动机提供动力，最大射程为 550 公里（342 英里），可携带 400 公斤（880 磅）高爆穿甲弹头。

据战略与国际研究中心 (CSIS) 称，导弹发射后，会结合内部导航、全球定位和地形参考导航，以及“红外导引头和自动目标识别算法”，从而在各种天气条件下实现高精度定位。

卡尔·考特/盖蒂图片社

SCALP导弹由乌克兰的苏-24或幻影2000战斗机发射，并在飞行过程中贴近地形以躲避防空系统。

它对乌克兰的用途是打击地下军事目标，例如指挥掩体，这对基辅一直用来打击炼油厂或仓库等更暴露目标的轻型无人机来说更具挑战性。

克里姆林宫对这一声明反应强烈，发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫表示，英国“正在参与战争”和“火上浇油”。

此前，俄罗斯驻伦敦大使馆上周警告英国，“英国对乌克兰的介入越深”、“支持越大”，“付出的代价就越高”。

英国和法国尚未公布迄今为止向乌克兰提供了多少枚 SCALP/风暴阴影导弹，但制造商 MBDA 于 2025 年重新启用了已关闭 15 年的生产线。

“提供给乌克兰的法英联合研制的SCALP/风暴阴影导弹已在现代高强度战斗的决定性局面中证明了其有效性，”法国国防部长塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努当时表示。

即使英国宣布了这一消息，生产规模的扩大也可能需要数年时间，但英国首相安迪·伯纳姆表示，伦敦将长期支持基辅。

伯纳姆周一在一份新闻稿中宣布英国将释放其导弹技术，并表示：“乌克兰人民应该毫不怀疑：英国今天支持你们，而且会一直支持你们，直到你们成功为止。”

“乌克兰的安全就是我们的安全，”这位总理说道。他于周一抵达基辅，参加乌克兰独立日活动，这是他自7月20日上任以来的首次海外访问。

乌克兰总统府

泽连斯基表示，他对伯纳姆的支持“表示感谢”，并授予伯纳姆“第一个新的国家荣誉：乌克兰人民的感恩”。

泽连斯基表示，两国签署了一项协议，旨在“发展在人工智能领域的伙伴关系”。

在乌克兰期间，伯纳姆共同主持了“自愿联盟”的会议。该联盟是由英国和法国于去年成立的34个国家组成的国际联盟，旨在支持乌克兰在战争中应对特朗普政府时期美国减少的援助。

该联盟周一承诺加强乌克兰的防空能力，伯纳姆周一表示，基辅的盟友需要“尽一切可能”提供更多的防空力量。

法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙远程参加了会议，他表示，过去几周的情况清楚地表明，基辅的盟友“需要加快交付拦截器”，并补充说，法国将加快“我们所能提供的一切”。

马克龙还确认，“自愿联盟”的首次全面军事演习将于10月和11月举行。演习将有英国和法国军队参加，地点在波兰。

SCALP 无法解决的是乌克兰防御导弹短缺的问题，例如美国设计的“爱国者”导弹系统。最近几周，俄罗斯发动大规模导弹和无人机袭击，造成数十名乌克兰人死亡，这一弱点暴露无遗，并带来了毁灭性的后果。

本月初，CNN 探访了乌克兰的一个爱国者导弹发射阵地，得知该导弹系统已经数周没有发射，因为没有拦截器可用。

乌克兰已请求允许在该国生产“爱国者”拦截导弹，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普最初在7月初支持这一想法，但后来又改变了主意。

特朗普政府还拒绝了乌克兰获取美国远程战斧巡航导弹的请求，这些导弹的库存因伊朗战争而受到重创。

然而，乌克兰的国产导弹生产并没有停滞不前。

Thomas Trutschel/dpa/AP

乌克兰制造商 Fire Point 研制出了 FP-5 火烈鸟巡航导弹。

该导弹射程达 3000 公里，可以打击俄罗斯境内纵深目标。乌克兰总统泽连斯基本月早些时候表示，该导弹曾被用于打击距离乌克兰边境约 900 公里的俄罗斯重要火箭电子设施。

乌克兰领导人表示，“火烈鸟”导弹将于 2025 年首次投入实战，而开源情报报告显示，今年该导弹的使用量一直在增加。

Fire Point公司还开发了远程无人机，以配合射程较短的弹道导弹。

大西洋理事会乌克兰警报博客的编辑彼得·迪金森本月早些时候写道，基辅使用远程武器，使得俄罗斯广袤的国土（曾经被认为是军事优势）变成了莫斯科的问题，因为它难以将有限的防御武器分配给乌克兰射程内越来越多的目标。

迪金森写道：“无数妄图征服俄罗斯的入侵者，最终都因俄罗斯幅员辽阔而兵败而归。如今，乌克兰正试图通过一场战略轰炸行动来颠覆这种军事逻辑，其目的是利用俄罗斯的庞大国土，将其从关键优势转变为致命弱点。”

CNN的Darya Tarasova、Victoria Butenko和Ivana Kottasova对此报道亦有贡献。