| Storm Shadow/SCALP EG | |
|---|---|
| Type | Long-range, air-to-surface missile |
| Place of origin | France, Italy, United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2002- present |
| Used by | See Inventory |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | MBDA |
| Unit cost | £790,000[1] Italy is reported to have paid $270 million for 200. The French senate indicates a cost of €800,000 per unit. |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 1,230 kilograms (2,711.7 lb) |
| Length | 5.1 metres (16.7 ft) |
| Diameter | .48 metres (1.6 ft) |
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| Warhead | 450 kg BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge) |
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| Engine | Turbomeca Microturbo TRI 60-30 turbojet, producing 5.4 kN thrust |
| Wingspan | 2.84 metres (9.3 ft) |
| Operational range |
over 250 kilometres (155 mi)[2] |
| Flight altitude | 30 metres (98.4 ft)–40 metres (131.2 ft) |
| Speed | 1,000 km/h Mach 0.8 |
| Guidance system |
Inertial, GPS and TERPROM. Terminal guidance using imaging infrared |
| Launch platform |
Panavia Tornado Mirage 2000 Rafale Eurofighter Typhoon (from 2014) |
Storm Shadow is a British, French and Italian air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the British name for the weapon; in French service it is called SCALP EG (Emploi Général, meaning General Purpose). The missile is based on the earlier MBDA Apache anti-runway missile, and differs in that it carries a warhead, rather than submunitions.
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The stealthy missile has a range in excess of 250 kilometres (155 mi),[3] is powered by a turbojet at Mach 0.8 and can be carried by the RAF Tornado GR4, Saab Gripen, Italian Tornado IDS, Dassault Mirage 2000 and Dassault Rafale aircraft.[3] Storm Shadow will be integrated with the Eurofighter Typhoon as part of the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) in 2014,[4] and it will be fitted to the F-35 Lightning II once that aircraft comes into service.[5] The BROACH warhead features an initial penetrating charge to clear soil or enter a bunker, then a variable delay fuze to control detonation of the main warhead. The missile weighs about 1,300 kilograms (2,866 lb), has a maximum body diameter of 48 centimetres (1.6 ft) and a wingspan of 3 metres (9.8 ft). Intended targets are command, control and communications; airfields; ports and power stations; AMS/ammunition storage; ships/submarines in port; bridges and other high-value strategic targets.[3]
It is a fire and forget missile, programmed before launch. Once launched, the missile cannot be controlled, its target information changed or be self-destructed. Mission planners programme the missile with the target air defences and target. The missile follows a path semi-autonomously, on a low flight path guided by GPS and terrain matching to the area of the target.
Close to the target, the missile climbs and then bunts into a dive. Climbing to altitude is intended to achieve the best probability of target identification and penetration. During the bunt, the nose cone is jettisoned to allow a high resolution infrared camera to observe the target area. The missile then tries to locate its target based upon its targeting information. If it can not, and there is a high risk of collateral damage, it will fly to a crash point instead of risking inaccuracy.[6]
British Aerospace and Matra were competing with McDonnell Douglas, Texas Instruments/Short Brothers, Hughes/Smiths Industries, Daimler-Benz Aerospace/Bofors, GEC-Marconi and Rafael.[7] The BAe/Matra Storm Shadow was selected on 25 June 1996.[8] A development and production contract was signed on 11 February 1997, by which time Matra and BAe had completed the merger of their missile businesses to form Matra BAe Dynamics.[9] France ordered 500 SCALP missiles in January 1998.[10]
The first successful fully guided firing of the Storm Shadow/SCALP EG took place at the CEL Biscarosse range in France at the end of December 2000[3] from a Mirage 2000N. The first British firing occurred on 25 May 2001 from a Tornado flying from BAE Warton.
Storm Shadow entered service with the Royal Air Force in late 2001.[3] It was first used during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by No. 617 Squadron. On 12 September 2006 three Italian Tornado IDS left for South Africa to complete the integration of the Storm Shadow.
In March 2011 Storm Shadows were fired at Libyan air defence installations by Tornado GR4s during Operation Ellamy, Britain's response to the 2011 Libyan civil war.[11][12] SCALP/EG's were also fired by French Rafales against the Libyan Al Jufra Air Base. [13]
On 26 August 2011 it was reported that Storm Shadows had been deployed against a military bunker in Sirte, the home town of Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.[14]
On the 14 December 2011, Italian Defence Officials noted that Italian Tornado IDS aircraft had fired between 20 and 30 Storm Shadows during the Libyan Campaign. This was the first time that Italian aircraft had fired the missile in anger, and it was reported the missile had a 97 per cent success rate.[15]
MBDA has developed a longer-range sea-launched variant for the French Navy, called Missile de Croisière Naval (MdCN meaning Naval Cruise Missile). It will launched by FREMM multipurpose frigates and Barracuda class submarines using the A70 version of the Sylver launcher on the former and 533 mm torpedo tubes on the latter. To provide a comparable thousand kilometers class range to the BGM-109 Tomahawk, the range of the MdCN (well over 1000 km) is significantly larger than the Storm Shadow. Its first in-flight test from a vertical launcher took place on 28 May 2010.[16] and its first submarine test took place on 8 June 2011.
The Storm Shadow was suggested as part of the RAF's Future Offensive Air System, possibly using a non-penetrating aircraft (e.g. C-130J or A400M) deploying large numbers of the missile. The FOAS study was cancelled in 2005, although the Storm Shadow may still be included in future studies for future weapons.
The following countries have ordered Storm Shadow / SCALP / MdCN, in these quantities:
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