UK Sends Stormer Missile Launchers To Ukraine

A number of Stormer High Velocity Missile (HVM) launchers from Royal Artillery units based at Baker Barracks on Thorney Island are being sent to Ukraine, The Sun newspaper of the UK reported.

Photo Insert: The Stormers, which are used by gunners from the 12th Regiment of the UK Royal Artillery, are the latest wave of support being sent to Ukraine.

The versatile weapons systems are able to speed into battle at 50 mph and can fire off 17 Starstreak missiles to blitz low-flying jets and helicopters.

The Stormers, which are used by gunners from the 12th Regiment of the UK Royal Artillery, are the latest wave of support being sent to Ukraine as fierce fighting erupted in the east of the country last night, Tom Cotterill of The News of Portsmouth also reported.

Britain’s deployment of the 13-tonne Stormer vehicles comes after they were shown off to Ukrainian military officials during a display on Salisbury Plain two weeks ago.

The vehicles, which can be flown to the war on C-17 transport planes, are the latest pieces of kit to be sent from Thorney Island, following the deployment of Startstreak missiles to Ukraine last month.

Dr. Alan Mendoza of security think tank Henry Jackson Society, told The Sun: "These vehicles are the best kit yet sent to Ukraine and will leave Russian pilots quaking. The UK is putting Putin on notice that Russian aggression, war crimes, and rocket strikes will no longer be tolerated. The UK should wear Putin’s inevitable angry and overblown reaction to this as a badge of pride.”

Yet, Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British troops in Afghanistan, told the paper that UK's major boost to Ukraine's forces risks further angering Moscow, with the threat of retaliation coming in the form of “cyber attacks, sabotage, assassination or other covert attacks for which his intelligence services have proven capability, including in the UK.”

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