UK to Share Classified Missile Technology with Ukraine to Boost Deep-Strike Capabilities

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham interacts with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during their visit to Portsmouth Naval Base to meet UK and Ukrainian troops, July 27, 2026.

Britain will allow the release of classified technology so that a British/French-designed cruise missile can be manufactured in Ukraine, providing 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 and can carry a 400-kilogram 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.

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.

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. French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu noted the effectiveness of the weapon in modern high-intensity combat.

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. During his first overseas trip since taking office on July 20, Burnham arrived in Kyiv on Monday for Ukraine’s independence day and will co-chair a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing.

What the SCALP can't address is Ukraine’s shortage of defensive missiles, like the US-designed Patriot system, a vulnerability exposed as Russia has launched large waves of its own missiles and drones. Ukraine has asked for permission to manufacture the Patriot interceptors locally, an idea US President Donald Trump initially supported in early July but later backtracked on, while also rebuffing attempts to acquire long-range US Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Meanwhile, 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 it was used to hit a key Russian rocket electronics facility some 900 kilometers from Ukraine’s border.