The United Kingdom announced on Monday that a small number of Stormer armored vehicles
will be given to Ukraine as part of the country’s latest round of aid.
Speaking in the House of Commons, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the vehicles
would be fitted with anti-air missile launchers.
Wallace said, “I can now announce to the House that we
will be gifting a small number of armored vehicles fitted with launchers for those anti-air
missiles.
The Stormer vehicles will give Ukrainian forces enhanced, short-range anti-air capabilities
both day and night.”
As per reports, Britain's Ministry of Defence demonstrated the system to Ukrainians on Salisbury
Plain two weeks ago.
It is understood the Stormer will be flown to the war on C-17 transport planes in days.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why the arrival of the British Stormer system
is bad news for Russia ?
Let's get started.
Stormers are British armoured, anti-aircraft, combat vehicles.
The “armour” refers to the plating that the vehicles are fitted with, for protection
against bullets or shell fragments and “anti-aircraft” means that they are designed to protect against
air attack.
The 13.5-tonne Stormer vehicles look similar to tanks but rather than firing shells they
launch 17 StarStreak missiles
The Stormers act as a mobile platform for Starstreak High Velocity Missiles (HVM) which
can be used to counter aerial attacks.
According to the Ministry of Defence, a Stormer has a maximum speed of 80 kph or 50 mph and
has a range of 600km or 372 miles
The Stormer is fitted with a roof-mounted air defence alerting device which provides
target detection and prioritization.
A panoramic weapon sight is located at the front of the vehicle.
StarStreak is a short-range man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) manufactured by Thales Air
Defence (formerly Shorts Missile Systems), in Belfast.
It is also known as StarStreak HVM (High-Velocity Missile).
It has the ability to down helicopters, low-flying fighter jets, and drones.
Each StarStreak missile weighs 30-pounds or 13 kg, and its range is 4.3 miles or 7 km
with 3 miles or 4.8 km ceiling.
It is considered to be one of the fastest man-portable air defense missiles in the world
with a top speed of around Mach 4.
StarStreak has been in service with the British Army since 1997.
StarStreak is a bit different from many other MANPADS.
The missile has three submunitions also known as Darts and use a Laser for navigation.
After launching from the tube, when the missile is at a safe distance away which is around
4 m or 13 feet from the operator, the second stage fires.
This rapidly accelerates the missile to a velocity of more than Mach 4.
As the second stage burns out, three dart sub-munitions are released.
The darts do not home in on laser energy reflected from the target but instead the aiming unit
projects two laser beams that paint a two-dimensional matrix upon the target.
The lasers are modulated and by examining these modulations the sub-munition's sensor
can determine the dart's location within the matrix.
The dart is then steered to keep it in the center of the matrix.
On impact with the object, a delayed-action fuse is triggered.
This gives time for the projectile to penetrate the target before the explosive warhead detonates.
The tungsten housing is designed to fragment and produce maximum damage inside the target.
Each sub-munition dart traveling at 4 Mach has comparable kinetic energy to a shell from
a Bofors 40 mm gun.
StarStreak has a number of advantages over infrared homing guided, radar homing guided,
and radio command guidance missiles:
1.
It cannot be jammed by infrared countermeasures or radar/radio countermeasures.
2.
It cannot be suppressed with anti-radar missiles.
Until now, Ukraine has been able to fire the missiles only from shoulder launchers or portable
stands, which are more difficult to aim.
Stormers are easier to operate and suitable for hit and run attacks.
The system can be moved quickly from one area to the other making counter attack difficult
. The mobility also enables them to be positioned in locations where they are needed most.
Given the inefficient SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) missions carried out by
the Russian Air Force, it is likely that they will find it very difficult to neutralize
a mobile platform like Stormer.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying for heavier firepower to push
back the Russian advance now focused on the eastern region of Donbas.
While Western allies are wary of being drawn into an outright war with Russia , they are
providing heavier weapons than before.
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British troops in Afghanistan, told The Times,
"The Stormer-Starstreak combination will boost Ukraine's fighting capability,"
He added, "It is an extremely effective, highly mobile combat vehicle that will do severe
damage to any attempts at low-level attack by Putin's air force."
It is evident that the Stormer system entering this conflict is bad news for Russian forces
given the fact that they have been losing even frontline fighters to MANPADS.