Russian military study internal design of Storm Shadow cruise missile

The Russian military showed the internals of the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missile, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine use to strike targets. The data obtained after disassembling the missile can help improve the operation of Russian air defense systems.

According to experts, Russian air defences may not destroy the missile, but cause it to crash on the ground. In this case, missile warheads remain intact. To neutralize them, special algorithms and tools have been developed that will make it possible to protect Russian territories from such attacks.

Russian specialists disassembled one of such crashed missiles to analyse their tactical and technical characteristics. The video of the process shows the head fairing, which is discarded when approaching the target, the defused warhead fuse, and the bottom part, where the fuse is installed.

The military also disassembled the mechanism that unfolds the wing, the warhead structure and the main charge. The video also shows the turbojet engine and low-pressure compressor blades.

Judging by the state of the disassembled missile body, specialists assumed that the projectile did not explode when hitting the target. The military assumed that this particular Storm Shadow was either suppressed by electronic warfare systems or crashed due to a malfunction. No traces of air defence interception were found on the body of the missile.

Kyiv obtained Storm Shadow missiles in May 2023. Ukraine actively uses them to strike the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that it was Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles that Ukraine used over the past two years to attack warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

In addition, according to British officials, UK's Storm Shadows were used during the attack on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in the fall of 2023. Ukraine then launched missiles from two Su-24 aircraft.