UK to Share Missile Tech So Ukraine Can Build Own SCALPs

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced Monday that the United Kingdom will share classified technical information to help Ukraine build its own long-range missiles, though experts caution the move will not produce operational weapons soon.

Burnham, speaking in Kyiv where he joined other international leaders for Ukraine's Independence Day, said defense firm MBDA will release details on U.K.-made parts for the SCALP missile to help Ukraine assemble the weapons domestically.

The SCALP is the French-produced version of Britain's Storm Shadow missile, an air-launched, high-precision weapon with a range of more than 155 miles that uses shared French and British technology. Measuring nearly 17 feet, it is designed to hit fixed targets such as hardened bunkers and is in service with British, French and Italian air forces.

Ukraine is already in talks with France, which recently agreed to help set up assembly lines for the missile in Ukraine. It is unclear how advanced those plans are or when Ukrainian-built missiles might become operational.

"Any impact ... will in part depend on how quickly Ukrainian-assembled SCALP cruise missiles can be introduced into service," said Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Arun Dawson, a researcher at King's College London, said the announcement will not help Ukraine through the coming winter and likely will not have an effect until next year at the earliest, adding that Ukraine's more urgent need is protection from Russian ballistic missile attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine is receiving substantially fewer Patriot air defense systems even as Russian ballistic attacks increase.

Dawson said a domestically produced SCALP would give Ukraine deep-strike offensive capability to target the sites Russia uses to launch ballistic missiles. Matthew Savill of the Royal United Services Institute said such missiles would complement Ukraine's drone arsenal by penetrating hardened structures in ways slower drones cannot.

The announcement drew criticism from the Kremlin, whose spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, accused Britain of "fanning the flame" of the war. Burnham dismissed the claim, asking reporters, "Who started the fire?"

Britain became the first country to supply longer-range strike weapons to Ukraine in 2023, donating Storm Shadow missiles that let Kyiv strike targets deep inside Russia and in occupied Crimea. The U.K. is also working with British defense firms on a new ground-launched strike system that could hit targets more than 310 miles away.