Travelling to Kyiv on his first international visit, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has backed a plan for Ukrainian licensed production of the MBDA SCALP air-launched cruise missile, but it could be some time before Ukraine can put the weapon into operation.
In a demonstration of the UK government’s unwavering commitment to the defence of Ukraine against Russia despite a change in political leadership, Prime Minister Andy Burnham travelled to Kyiv on 24 August 2026 – Ukraine’s 35th Independence Day – in his first international visit since assuming office.
Rather than the visit being purely symbolic, Burnham used it to announce that the UK will share classified blueprints with Ukraine relating to UK components used in the Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée (SCALP) air-launched cruise missile, known in the UK as Storm Shadow, manufactured by European missile house MBDA.
The move supports a French plan, initiated in June 2026, to set up licensed production of the turbojet-powered SCALP missile in Ukraine. Both the UK and France have previously provided Ukraine with SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, which MBDA states have a range “in excess of 250 km” but are generally believed to have a range at least double that. These were provided by the UK from May 2023 and by France from July 2023 and were rapidly integrated onto Ukrainian Su-24М tactical bombers.
Speaking to the BBC in Kyiv on 24 August, Burnham stated, “We’re unwavering in our support and that is why I am here, to send that very clear message to the Ukrainian people on their 35th Independence Day, and we are just continuing what we’ve done from the start, providing that back-up support.
“And this is technical support, going with what we’ve been doing from the very start, and we’ll continue to do that; nothing will change that.”
While in Kyiv, Burnham took part in Independence Day events and co-chaired his first meeting of the Coalition of the Willing: a group of 34 countries (plus Ukraine) that have pledged to support Ukraine’s efforts to counter the Russian invasion of that country that began on 24 February 2022.
While Ukraine has developed its own long-range weapons to strike Russian targets – the FP-5 Flamingo ground-launched cruise missile, for example, which entered serial production in August 2025, has a range of around 5,000 km – these are not particularly accurate or stealthy and are vulnerable to Russian air defences.
The SCALP missile, on the other hand, features a low-observable air vehicle that uses an advanced navigation system combining INS, GPS and terrain contour matching (TERCOM) technology, allowing it to maintain a low-level flight profile until it reaches its target and be much less vulnerable to hostile air defences. Its accuracy is further aided by an onboard infrared seeker that matches the target image with a stored picture to ensure a precision strike.
However, Storm Shadow/SCALP is an expensive weapon that cannot be employed in high volumes. It is also a complex weapon that will take a long lead time to produce, even after a Ukrainian production line is up and running.
Under Project Brakestop, launched by the UK Ministry of Defence’s Taskforce Kindred in November 2024, British companies are looking to develop low-cost, long-range strike weapons for Ukraine. In June 2026 three UK companies – MBDA UK, MGI Engineering and Rotron Aerospace – were awarded follow-on contracts under Project Brakestop.
As much as Ukraine will welcome the opportunity to locally produce stealthy, precision-strike cruise missiles, Ukrainian cities continue to suffer casualties from Russian ballistic missiles, with Ukraine having run out of interceptors for its Patriot air defence systems. The US/Israeli war with Iran has also meant that spare stocks of Patriot interceptors are not available to supply to Ukraine.
In mid-2026 Ukraine and a number of its European allies initiated Project Freya: an air defence programme design to provide a lower-cost, higher-volume alternative capability to the US Patriot system that would be capable of countering Russian ballistic missiles. However, a first prototype of the Freya air defence system is not expected to be operational before mid-2027.
