There’s a much better alternative to the Storm Shadow missile for Ukraine
Back-to-back Russian air raids on August 26 and September 2, which killed nearly 60 people and led to the crash of one of Ukraine’s scarce ex-European F-16 fighters as the jet was flying an air-defense patrol, have injected new urgency into Ukraine’s pleas for fewer restrictions on how it uses its best Western-made missiles.
France, the United Kingdom and the United States prohibit the Ukrainians from firing ex-French SCALP-EG cruise missiles, ex-British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and ex-American ATACMS ballistic missiles at targets inside Russia.
With greater leeway regarding what they can target and where, these missiles could blunt the Russian air raids and save lives, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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“The issue of our long-range capabilities and the necessary approvals from our partners, as well as the long-range shells and missiles we could use, is critical,” Zelensky stated. “Russian strikes will become impossible if we have the ability to destroy the occupier’s launch sites, military airfields and logistics hubs where they are located.”
The Ukrainian government isn’t holding its breath for allied leniency, however. It’s developing its own missiles – and it doesn’t need any other country’s permission to use them. One new missile, the ground-launched Palianytsia, is especially compelling.
The winged, turbojet-powered Palianytsia has been in development for more than a year but only recently made its combat debut. On August 24, at least one Palianytsia struck a target in Russian-occupied Crimea, Zelensky announced.
Official information about the Palianytsia is scarce, but what little we know is telling. Ukrainian sources have described the munition as a “drone missile,” but with its apparent long range, subsonic speed and one-way explosive mission, it’s essentially a cruise missile.
Palianytsia packs a AI-PBS-350 turbojet engine, which was jointly developed by PBS in the Czech Republic and Ukrainian firm Ivchenko-Progress. The 220-pound AI-PBS-350 produces 3,400 newtons of thrust.
That should make the Palianytsia roughly similar to Ukraine’s turbofan-powered Neptune cruise missile, at least in terms of size, speed and range. The Neptune was a prototype anti-ship missile when Russia widened its war on Ukraine in February 2022.
The Ukrainian navy used early versions of the Neptune to sink the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva in April that year. A newer model of the Neptune with more fuel and an improved seeker has struck targets on land across Crimea and southern Russia.
Where the Neptune and the Palianytsia substantially differ is in their propulsion. The Neptune boasts an efficient but expensive turbofan. The Palianytsia’s simpler turbojet is probably less efficient, but also probably cheaper – meaning the same amount of money should buy more Palianytsias than Neptunes.
That matters. Ukraine isn’t actually hurting for long-range munitions it can deploy against targets deep inside Russia. The Ukrainian special operations directorate has developed an array of strike drones and sent them ranging across Russia to strike air bases, industrial sites and oil refineries. The most capable of these, a modified sport plane, can travel as far as 1,100 miles.
What Ukraine lacks is an abundant strike munition. Neptunes strike infrequently – twice a month, at most – and in single digits. The one-way, pilotless sport planes are at least as rare. In begging for permission to use air-launched SCALP-EGs and Storm Shadows and ground-launched ATACMS against targets in Russia, Ukraine is begging for new capacity not new capability. That said, cruise missiles are harder to shoot down than propeller drones, and ballistic weapons like ATACMS are even harder.
But numbers also matter. The United Kingdom, France and the USA can provide missiles by the dozen or, in the case of the ATACMS, by the hundred.
With its simple turbojet propulsion, the Palianytsia might begin to solve the capacity problem. If Ukraine can scale up production, it could hit airfields and missile launch sites potentially hundreds of miles inside Russia – and with sufficient force and frequency to exact a toll for every attempt the Russians make to target Ukrainian cities.
There’s even a political workaround for allies who are reluctant to see their own missiles strike Russia, but who also want to see Ukraine fight back against Russia’s terror raids. Allies could finance the Ukrainian missile industry – and pay for extra Palianytsias Ukraine can’t afford on its own. Potentially lots of them.