The UK government will share classified technical information on British-made components of the Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missile with Ukraine, clearing a key obstacle to local assembly or domestic production work in Ukraine. The move is linked to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first overseas visit to Kyiv on Ukraine’s Independence Day, where he is expected to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The decision concerns the Franco-British long-range weapon used on aircraft and produced by MBDA. By allowing declassification of UK component data, London removes a legal and industrial barrier that had slowed Franco-UK cooperation on a Ukrainian production effort. France had already moved to support related discussions, and the UK step addresses the remaining British-side restriction.
Storm Shadow, known as SCALP-EG in France, has been in service since 2003 and is reported to have a range of about 550 kilometres. The project is not expected to lead to immediate mass production, with industrial set-up, sourcing and certification likely to take months or longer. Even so, the move points to a deeper effort to build Ukraine’s own long-range strike manufacturing base and reduce reliance on limited Western stocks.