UK provides Ukraine classified long-range SCALP missile blueprints

BELFAST — UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has approved plans to give Ukraine classified blueprints of British components used to produce a variant of its Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles called SCALP, saying the UK is “100 percent behind” Kyiv in its fight against Moscow.

Burnham announced the decision during a trip to Kyiv on Monday, and it comes amid Kyiv and Paris preparing to set up local assembly lines of the munition in Ukraine. Specifically, the UK has agreed that missile-producer MBDA can release classified SCALP information, according to a statement ahead of the announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“On Ukraine’s 35th anniversary of independence [on Monday], the Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: the UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes,” Burnham said in the release. “Russia should be in no doubt of our resolve. We will not back down until there is a just and lasting peace.”

SCALP is the French variant of Britain’s Storm Shadow, which relies on technology from both countries and was first supplied to Ukraine in 2023. Per the statement, the blueprint sharing will also complement Project Brakestop, designed to develop low-cost, long-range strike weapons for Ukraine. 

Under a 2025 agreement, France and the UK announced a plan to relaunch SCALP/Storm Shadow production, while in parallel partnering on a replacement munition. 

Designed for deep-strike missions and capable of hitting targets beyond 250 km (155 miles), SCALP can attack high-value fixed or stationary targets, like hardened bunkers, according to MBDA company literature [PDF].

Prior to Burnham’s SCALP blueprint approval, the Russian Embassy in the UK criticized the reported use of British drones by Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory. It warned in a statement posted on Telegram, that “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences.”

Moscow withdrew its UK ambassador, Andrey Kelin, in July and has still to submit another candidate to the Foreign Office as a replacement, according to the Times newspaper.

As part of Burnham’s visit to Kyiv, he co-chaired a Coalition of the Willing meeting alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Leaders participating in the meeting agreed to increase military support to Ukraine, strengthen its air defense “as a matter of urgent priority” and ramp up cooperation with its defense industry. They also agreed to share key technologies, including through the Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, according to a separate UK government statement.

Earlier this month, Reuters quoted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as saying that Ukraine’s allies had supplied one-third as many air defense missiles this year compared with 2025, amid a shortage of US-made Patriot interceptors capable of defeating Russian ballistic missiles.