https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1978850/keir-starmer-armed-forces-storm-shadow
However, the numbers of these weapons available for Ukraine to use is not infinite. It’s estimated that it originally had roughly 50 ATACMS, and perhaps double that number of Storm Shadow or the French equivalent SCALP. Some of these have been used already and it’s unclear how many Kyiv has left.
Nor are they cheap. It seems that twelve Storm Shadows may have been used in the latest attack, and they cost £767,000 each. Accordingly their targets have to be of the highest priority and their routes to target carefully planned to give them the best chance of surviving the flight against Russia’s air defence systems.
It’s also not clear how many more, if any, the UK can or is prepared to send to Zelensky. As with other natures of ammunition that Britain has donated, the cupboard at home may be looking increasingly bare and stocks could be at a critical level. To quote former Chief of the General Staff Patrick Sanders, “it would make your hair stand on end”.
With this escalation in the conflict and the threats being made by Putin in response, hinting at the possibility of a tactical nuclear weapons, it seems rather counter-intuitive that UK Defence Secretary John Healey has chosen this particular moment to announce cuts to Britain’s military.
He has effectively pre-empted the Strategic Defence Review by Lord Robertson’s team, due to report in the Spring of 2025, by announcing the early retiral of some Royal Navy warships, some reconnaissance drones, and various helicopter types. These measures will, we are assured, save some £500 million.