Africa-Press – Rwanda. The UK is reviving the production of its Starstreak missiles to ramp up deliveries of the “wonder weapon” to Ukraine. But have Starstreaks proven effective so far?
The Starstreak, also known as the High-Velocity Missile (HVM), have been in use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the beginning of the conflict, being extensively lauded by the Western press. Still, Russian military observers argue that the missile system has been overpraised.So what’s the Starstreak missile system and how does it work?
How Does the Starstreak Work?
Starstreak is a short-range surface-to-air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) or be integrated within portable stand-type Lightweight Multiple Launchers (LML) that carry three rounds. The Starstreak High-Velocity Missile system could also be mounted on the Alvis Stormer armored vehicle platform turning it into a mobile short-range air defense system.
The weapon comprises three tungsten darts and a carrier powered by a rocket motor. Having been released from the carrier, the darts are accelerated to over Mach 3.0. The velocity of the darts allows the Starstreak to penetrate heavily armored targets. The fire control system’s laser beam guides the missile to ensure exceptional accuracy while being completely unjammable, as per the manufacturer.
Why Was Starstreak’s Production Halted?
The Starstreak has been in British military use since 1997, being manufactured by Thales Air Defense (formerly Shorts Missile Systems) in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
However, in 2012, Thales stopped the production of the missile systems, supposedly because it switched to manufacturing the Lightweight Multi-role Missiles (LMM) for the Royal Navy’s Wildcat Lynx combatant helicopter. The company’s officials said at the time that they agreed with the UK Ministry of Defense of the need to “re-role previously contracted budgets to facilitate the full-scale development, series production and introduction of the LMM.”
What are It’s Advantages and Disadvantages?
In addition, this system can be mounted on armored vehicles, railway platforms, and all kinds of vessels. Coupled with a reported striking range of 7 km and high speed, the Starstreak appears to have advantages over other Western MANPADS, per the expert.
Still, there’s the rub: First, the missile system requires an operator to “guide” the missile throughout the engagement process, while other MANPAD missiles are mostly working in a “fire and forget” mode, according to Koshkin. The operator uses the aiming unit which projects two laser beams onto the target, while the missile’s sensors calculate the relative positions until impact.
Second, the missile is not that inexpensive. In fact it costs more than a Stinger missile, as per open sources. Thus, the Starstreak’s missile price tag is about £100,000-130,000 ($127,000- $168,740) while the Stinger’s missile costs around $119,000. That means that the operator cannot afford to waste the British-made missiles on myriads of cheaper drones in the battle zone, according to Koshkin.
Has the Starstreak Proven Effective in Ukraine?
Despite being touted as a “wonder weapon” the Starstreak has not “called the shots” on the Ukrainian battlefield so far, per Sputnik’s interlocutor.
Koshkin noted that British military experts cited by the Western press are claiming that Starstreak MANPADs have been used in Ukraine against Russia’s unmanned aerial vehicles and even helicopters.
However, these reports have not been backed by solid evidence; moreover, there is no credible statistics that would have proven that the Starstreak “outperformed” other portable missile systems in use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In early March 2022, the Western press announced that the British military department planned to supply the Kiev regime with its “state-of-art” Starstreak MANPADs. A few days later the UK MoD confirmed this information, while in April 2022 the Ukrainian and Western started releasing reports claiming that the British MANPAD had been downing Russian planes and helicopters. To back their narrative they attached photographs and video footage of extremely poor quality which did not allow identifying the target or the weapon used for shooting it down.
As per uncorroborated reports, the alleged successful use of the Starstreak was due to a covert agreement between the Ukrainian and the UK military to attribute most of the successful missile launches to Starstreak MANPADs. Thus, the Ukrainian side advertised the weapon “in exchange” for supplies, according to some reports.
Per Russian publications specializing in military analysis, the actual capabilities of modern British MANPADs are not as impressive as the manufacturer’s advertisement. Under the battlefield conditions, the Starstreak’s peculiar guidance system has proven to be useless, largely contributing to the low efficiency of the launches. The need for manual control by the operator on many occasions eliminated the technical advantages of the missile.
Are Western Weapons Superior to Russian Analogues?
As per Koshkin, Russia will always have defense means to “respond” to its rivals with Russia’s arms manufacturers having enough cards up their sleeve to compete with the Western military-industrial complex.
For More News And Analysis About Rwanda Follow Africa-Press
