A member of the military walks past a MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp missile at the Farnborough Airshow (Getty Images)
BELFAST — UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has approved plans to give Ukraine classified blueprints of British components used to produce a variant of its Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles called SCALP, saying the UK is “100 percent behind” Kyiv in its fight against Moscow.
Burnham announced the decision during a trip to Kyiv on Monday, and it comes amid Kyiv and Paris preparing to set up local assembly lines of the munition in Ukraine. Specifically, the UK has agreed that missile-producer MBDA can release classified SCALP information, according to a statement ahead of the announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“On Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence [on Monday], the Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: the UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes,” Burnham said in the release. “Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve. We will not back down until there is a just and lasting peace.”
SCALP is the French variant of Britain’s Storm Shadow, which relies on technology from both countries and was first supplied to Ukraine in 2023. Per the statement, the blueprint sharing will also complement Project Brakestop, designed to develop low-cost, long-range strike weapons for Ukraine.
