The Royal Air Force would consider acquiring the Israeli Rampage missile to replace the Storm Shadows ceded to Ukraine

In recent weeks, and the formalization by London of the delivery of Storm Shadow long-range ammunition to Ukraine, MBDA's Franco-British cruise missile demonstrates exceptional qualities, in particular to recover from the DCA and resist the intense jamming implemented by the Russian forces.

As we mentioned earlier, the sending of these missiles essential to the Ukrainian air forces to strike the logistic sites, command post and key transport infrastructures of the adversary, is done at the expense of the already reduced stocks of the Royal Air Force. , and the Air and Space Force after France also joined the initiative.

It is therefore not surprising that the RAF is seeking to acquire new missiles of this type to maintain a minimum operational stock, while the delivery of these missiles to Kyiv is not intended to decrease in the coming months. come, even if it will only be an interim capability pending the entry into service in 2028 of the Future Cruise Missile FMC jointly developed by Great Britain, France and Italy.

Considering the excellent operational results of the Storm Shadow against Russian anti-aircraft defenses, and its Franco-British DNA, everything led to believe that the Royal Air Force would turn to MBDA to acquire new missiles of the same type. Big mistake, at least according to an article from the UAE website thenationalnews.com.

According to the article published on June 30, the RAF would indeed like to turn to the Israeli Rampage aeroballistic missile which entered service in 2018 and developed by IAI, instead of the Storm Shadow, on mainly economic criteria, the European missile being deemed too expensive with a unit price of $3 million. The RAF would have dispatched officers and a technical team to Israel to evaluate the missile and the way in which it could be integrated into Typhoon.

Since its publication, the article has been widely taken up by the specialized press. However, many of the assertions made are very surprising, not to say frankly dubious.

Thus, the price of the Storm Shadow, announced at $3 million, corresponds to the acquisition price of the MdCN missiles equipping the frigates and submarines of the French Navy, not the price of the Scalp / Storm Shadow. it is true that many values ​​as fanciful as bad sources have been disseminated over the years concerning the price of this missile.

The reference values, concerning the unit acquisition costs of the Storm Shadow, are around 900.000 € depending on whether it is concerning the acquisition of 900 units by the Royal Air Force, or the 500 copies for the Army. French Air Force and Naval Aeronautics, according to data published in 2011 by the British Parliament.

In fact, it is very difficult to believe that the unit price of the missile has been multiplied by 3 in 12 years, even considering that it is no longer mass-produced by MBDA as during the initial French and British orders.

Secondly, it should be recalled that there is no indication to date that the war in Ukraine will end in the short term. Under these conditions, there is no doubt that the Europeans will have to continue to support Kyiv by providing it with effective weapon systems to contain a Russian threat which, far from collapsing, seems on the contrary to be strengthening.

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