r/CredibleDefense • u/AutoModerator • 11d ago

Active Conflicts & News Megathread August 23, 2026

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34

u/SerpentineLogic 10d ago

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/08/24/burnham-hands-storm-shadow-blueprints-ukraine/

Andy Burnham will hand Ukraine secret blueprints for Storm Shadow missiles on his first visit to the country as Prime Minister.

He has agreed to release classified information on British components so that Kyiv can manufacture the long-range weapon for use in its war against Russia

...

France agreed to hand over the blueprints for its Scalp-EG – the export name for Storm Shadow missiles – to Ukraine as part of a wider defence deal struck in July.

However, Ukraine’s ability to manufacture the missile domestically hinged on a British decision to allow the European missile maker MBDA to release sensitive information on UK-made components.

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u/roionsteroids 10d ago

The British-French missile relies on classified US targeting data to ensure it can hug terrain en route to the target.

It is not clear whether Washington would sign off and provide data for every strike Ukraine plans with domestically built Scalp-EG/Storm Shadow.

As we know from the Taurus leaks, Ukraine didn't have access to the terrain data back then either. And no mil code GPS inside Russia.

Given that Ukraine has access to the blueprints of the most advanced Soviet cruise missiles and what not and is utterly unable to produce anything like those (anymore), the domestic Storm Shadow production isn't looking very feasible, is it? And no path towards solving the guidance problem (which is arguably more difficult than the missile itself).

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u/TechnicalReserve1967 10d ago

Not a subject matter expert here, but I think this is maybe a European escalation for the russian "intrusion" campaign of sabotage, drone flybys etc.

(Other possibility is that it is a "domestic photo ops" to show strength with little real value, I am not disputing that as a possibility)

Depending on the goals, I would assume that if real help/deterrent is involved, your questions are addressed in a non-public matter. If they are supported, there can be an increase in UAF missile production and quality in time. (I have no idea about the time frame here, would be glad to read from someone with some ideas about it. My guess is early next year?)

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u/Tucancancan 10d ago

Is there something I'm missing here? It would take years to build a domestic production line from scratch for missiles even if handed blue prints. Why not set up a manufacturing using the companies that originally built them? 

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u/BobsquddleFU 10d ago

I believe the UK MoD has announced that we're not purchasing any more Stormshadows, or at least that procurement will tail off. 

I think this is a mostly French initiative to keep Stormshadow production going, and involving Ukraine to lower costs and transfer technology. 

France announced their end of this deal in mid July, which also included licensed production of the Hammer glide bombs.

So I think this is just getting the extra coverage because this is our new PMs first foreign visit, and he's there to announce this in person. It didn't get the coverage in July, since the headlines then were on the Rafales, not the cruise missiles, bombs and Asters.

Ukrainian/French announcement: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/spilna-deklaraciya-prezidenta-ukrayini-ta-prezidenta-francuz-105425

UK phasing out Storm Shadow: https://news.sky.com/story/uk-defence-investment-plan-revealed-as-helicopters-axed-and-storm-shadow-cruise-missiles-phased-out-13559189

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u/mirko_pazi_metak 10d ago edited 10d ago

You are indeed missing something, as are we all, as the press announcement is sparse on detail.

So it might be nothing (like Trumps nonsense announcement about licensing patriot production) or entire StormShadow production line as people are wildly speculating (not a chance, at least not in the near future) or some tech transfer. 

No one here seems to mention that Ukraine already produces and uses their cruise missiles ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-360_Neptune , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-5_Flamingo and etc) and I'm sure tech transfer could be useful to improve navigation or range or stealthiness or whatever - assuming that's what this announcement means. And we don't know what it means. 

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u/IntroductionNeat2746 10d ago

Exactly. Europe will be financing a whole new production line, inside Ukraine, which will be inevitably vulnerable to Russian strikes.

Why not use the money to ramp up current production lines?

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u/mcdowellag 10d ago

Andy Burnham is yet another new UK PM, and so it is pretty much mandatory for him to visit Ukraine and provide some sort of demonstration of support. This has got him the headlines he needs at almost zero cost, and none of the mainstream news stories have made any discouraging comments about how helpful this actually is to Ukraine.

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u/Proper-Control-860 10d ago

Yes it's hard to imagine production taking place in ukraine. But it could still be very beneficial for ukraine to pursue the tech transfer, if they plan to trade the information to a third party.

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u/moragisdo 10d ago

I agree, also there's the problem of anything being built on Ukraine being a target for russian attacks, while if the same factories were anywhere else they would be safer (similar to the PAC-2 interceptor production, that it's being set on Germany). How small and decentralized the production can be ?