Hyvin mielenkiintoinen keskustelu twitterissä koskien stromien käyttöä. Ukrainalla on ohjuksia iso nippu, mutta niitä ei päästä käyttämään koska maalitus ei onnistu ilman jenkkejä ja eivät ole antaneet tarvittavaa dataa venäjän alueelta Ukrainalle, poislukien kursk viime syksynä.
Todella yllättävää jos britit eivät pysty itsenäisesti maalittamaan omaa ykkösnyrkkiään. Sama lienee tilanne myös scalpin osalta, koska ohjausjärjestelmät ovat yhteneväiset. Ranska on mielestäni kuitenkin aina pyrkinyt omavaraisuuteen sotilasteknologiassa.
Question, were these Storm Shadows recently given to Ukraine or were they sitting on a stockpile?
Neither. Although Ukraine does have a stockpile of them (in the order of "hundreds") they have in fact been using these bad boys against Russian targets in Ukrainian or contested territory since we completed the first deliveries - with command posts, bridges and even multiple Russian ships in the Black Sea having been confirmed damaged or destroyed by them. This article details some confirmed examples of their use in the war so far:
The use of Storm Shadow missiles by Ukraine
We (I'm British) gave these missiles to Ukraine around two years ago, but (surprise-surprise)
the missiles are borderline useless without US targeting intelligence; to get around GPS jamming and other Russian countermeasures. They're expensive precision munitions - you want to make sure they hit their marks without getting intercepted.
Alas,
up until recently the US just wasn't providing Ukraine this crucial intelligence; at least not for the purposes of a direct missile strike on Russian soil. Only against targets within Ukraine or the Black Sea.
They were also permitted to use them during the Kursk campaign - but only within the limited zone of Ukrainian operations.
We and the French have been quietly urging the US behind the scenes to lift the wider targeting ban for ages, but to no avail. I'm sorry to say this about my American cousins, but the US is about as reliable as a chocolate teapot.
Ukraine Can't Use UK's Storm Shadow on Russian Soil Because of US: Reports - Business Insider
Hence why this particular strike is big news. Clearly something has changed recently. It really does seem as though Putin's "kompromat" over Trump/Agent Krasnov is far less concrete these days than he himself would like. And that's ultimately good news for Ukraine, albeit bittersweet.
We can only apologise collectively for the time it's taken to give Ukraine the free reign to do what it needs. This chemical/explosives plant should have been turned to dust by our Storm Shadows two years ago.
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edit: Viitatun Business insiderin artikkelin mukaan kyseessä olisi GPS:n sotilasversion ohjuksille tarkoitetun signaalin puuttuminen. Ilman signaalin salausavaimia ja satelliittien purskedataa (lähetetään vain operaation aikana) ohjus ei kykene löytämään kohteeseen.
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