YouTube/Ukrainian Air Force
- Ukraine shared footage of its aircraft launching Storm Shadow missiles.
- Footage of the powerful, long-range missiles in action is extremely rare.
- Storm Shadows were given to Ukraine by the UK and France (which calls them SCALP missiles).
Ukraine released its first official video of Western Storm Shadow missiles being used in combat.
Ukraine's air force on Sunday shared footage celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Buried in the clip were visuals of the Storm Shadow being launched from a jet, and then flying through the sky.
You can watch the video here:
The video showed one missile with a UK flag and one with French branding, using an alternative name for the missile, SCALP, which is common in France.
Ukrainian outlet Defense Express reported that it was the first-ever video showing Storm Shadows being deployed in live combat.
It said they were shown being fired from an Su-24, one of the jet types Ukraine uses to carry the missiles.
Business Insider couldn't immediately verify those claims, but footage of them in action is very rare.
A 2015 video by the missile's maker, MBDA, shows Storm Shadows in action but doesn't specify whether the footage shows test scenarios or real warfare.
Ukriane's military also called it the first official footage that captures a live launch of the missile.
Storm Shadows are cruise missiles developed jointly by the UK and France.
Both countries have been giving Ukraine the missiles and the UK was the first country to give Ukraine cruise missiles when it gave Kyiv the first Storm Shadows in May 2023.
Ukraine has used them for far-reaching strikes, including an attack where those missiles were seemingly used to hit the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
The footage in the video by Ukraine's air force appears to show that strike.