Military expert Mikhail Khodarenok believes Britain’s decision to provide Ukraine with classified information related to the production of Storm Shadow cruise missiles is primarily a political gesture. In his assessment, technical documentation alone is not enough to establish production of such missiles on Ukrainian territory.
The main challenge is not access to blueprints and other classified materials, but the transfer of the technologies themselves. Setting up production would require specialized equipment, tooling, a necessary component supply chain and trained personnel. Khodarenok argues that a significant part of the relevant European industrial capacity would effectively have to be transferred to Ukraine. Building such a production chain could take several years.
As a historical example, the expert pointed to the German V-2 missile obtained by the Soviet Union after World War II. It turned out that almost the entire component base required for the missile had never been produced in the USSR. Similar difficulties emerged when the Soviet Union attempted to copy the American B-29 bomber: the country had to significantly restructure its aviation industry, while the American engine could not be replicated.
Khodarenok also identified the ongoing hostilities as another major obstacle. He questioned whether full-scale Storm Shadow production could be established in Ukraine while its territory remains under Russian strikes. For this reason, the expert does not consider the transfer of classified British data sufficient to enable Ukraine to manufacture these missiles domestically.