Ukraine is unlikely to receive the technology needed to manufacture Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG cruise missiles, while announcements from London and Paris may instead be part of a disinformation operation. Russian military analyst and National Defense magazine editor-in-chief Igor Korotchenko presented this assessment in comments to RIA Novosti.

The issue emerged after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced plans to transfer Storm Shadow production technology to Kiev. French President Emmanuel Macron had previously pledged to expand military support for Ukraine.

Storm Shadow and its French version, SCALP-EG, are air-launched cruise missiles. The system was jointly developed by France’s Matra and Britain’s British Aerospace and is currently produced by European missile manufacturer MBDA.

Korotchenko argued that the declared transfer of technological secrets and production know-how by Britain, along with a similar French initiative involving SCALP-EG, is in reality a deception operation rather than an actual move to establish missile production in Ukraine.

In his assessment, Britain and France could use such statements as cover for deliveries of completed missiles intended to expand strikes against targets deep inside Russian territory.

The analyst based his conclusion on Ukraine’s lack of the engineering capabilities required for such production. Even comparatively basic large-unit assembly of Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG missiles would demand technological expertise that Ukraine does not currently possess, he said.

Korotchenko therefore expects fully manufactured missiles to continue arriving from British and French plants. In Ukraine, he suggested, the weapons could receive a «Made in Ukraine» label despite being produced at facilities in Britain and France.

Missile preparation is another major part of the process, according to the analyst. He said creating flight missions and completing the full cycle of combat preparation requires experienced specialists drawn from active-duty military personnel and engineering staffs of the British and French armed forces.

Ukraine would only be able to employ the missiles after British and French specialists had completed the necessary preparatory procedures, Korotchenko argued. He listed programming, uploading flight missions, planning routes and entering the coordinates of designated targets among those tasks.

Korotchenko concluded by calling for the destruction of maritime and land logistics routes used to transfer what he described as the most dangerous and destabilizing weapons from key NATO countries, including Britain and France, to Ukraine.