Britain has beefed up its supply of weapons to the Ukrainian military.
It will be adding StarStreak anti-air missiles
to a list of supplies that already include significant numbers of anti-tank weapons.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told lawmakers on Mar. 9 that the government was “exploring”
the supply of StarStreak but later confirmed that the decision had
already been taken in principle to provide the Thales UK-built, short-range weapon.
UK Defence Defence Secretary said “We believe that this system will remain within the
definition of defensive weapons but will allow the defending force to better defend the skies”
He added that issues such as training still had to be resolved.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why the entry of British StarStreak
will be a game-changer for Ukraine? Let's get started.
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. The weapon can be affixed to vehicles as well.
It can be used in conjunction with other air defense systems like Stingers
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.
Each StarStreak missile had three submunitions
also known as Darts and use a Laser for navigation.
It has 4 stage targeting sequence which is as follows:
1. Launch: A rocket motor, fires the missile from the tube – but burns out
before leaving the tube to protect the operator. 2. Release of Darts: 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 dart housing is made from a tungsten alloy. The darts
are each 396 mm (15.6 in) long with a diameter of 22 mm (0.87 in) and weigh about 900 grams (32 oz).
Around half the weight of each dart, approximately 450 g (16 oz), is its explosive charge.
Each dart consists of a rotating fore-body with two canard fins attached to a non-rotating rear
assembly which has four fins. The rear assembly of each dart also houses the electronics that guide
the missile, including a rearwards facing sensor. 3. Navigation: 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. The sub-munitions steer by briefly
decelerating the rotating fore-body with a clutch. The front wings then steer the missile in the
appropriate direction. The three sub-munitions fly in a formation about 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) in radius
and have enough kinetic energy to maneuver to meet a target evading at 9 g at 7,000 m (23,000 ft)
4. Destruction of target:
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.
As already evident, Russian helicopters and even fighter jets are vulnerable to MANPADS.
This is mainly due to 2 major reasons - inadequate Precision Guided munitions inventory which forces
pilots to fly low and lack of DIRCM or Directional Infrared Counter Measures.
It has been explained in detail in the video on the above card.
It's unlikely that Russian forces will have any genuine way out of this
and Starstreak will only magnify the chinks.
StarStreak has a number of advantages over infrared homing guided, radar homing guided,
and radio command guidance MANPADS :
1. It cannot be jammed by infrared countermeasures or radar/radio countermeasures.
2. It cannot be suppressed with anti-radar missiles.
The announcement regarding the StarStreak air defense system
is notable because defense officials from the United Kingdom have kept the specifics
on their weapons exports to Ukraine secret in order to maintain the tactical surprise.
This method keeps the Russian forces guessing.
But with StarStreak, the UK has taken a different approach.
The public announcement will boost Ukrainian morale.
The Russian campaign can no longer be considered as a swift one,
and the situation is shifting more towards an attritional battle.
Helicopters and strike aircraft are multi-million dollar assets whereas
MANPADS like Stinger & StarStreak are much cheaper and Ukraine is getting these as aid.
So, economically it is a disaster for Russia
even if several of these are expended to bring down a single helicopter or aircraft.
It will be increasingly hard for Russia to sustain a battle like this,
especially keeping in the context that it is already facing massive economic sanctions.
The addition of StarStreak in all likelihood is a game-changer for Ukraine.