Attack on Luhansk Likely by 'Storm Shadow' Missile: Ukraine Media

An aerial attack on the center of Russian-occupied Luhansk on Friday night was likely caused by a ‘Storm Shadow’ missile whose delivery to Ukraine was acknowledged by the U.K. earlier this week.

Eyewitnesses report three consecutive explosions preceded by the specific sound of an object flying in the air, mil.in.ua wrote, adding that local residents recovered the remnants of an ADM-160B MALD decoy missile which is often used in conjunction with the storm Shadow to confuse air defense systems.

Ukraine has previously not known to have aerial attack capability that can get the better of Russian air defenses such as the S-300 and S-400.

The “unknown” missile hit an office building

in the center of Luhansk, which is 90-100km from the battle line.

Developed by Raytheon, the ADM-160B is an air-launched decoy cruise missile that costs over $320,000 per unit. The missile has folded wings to allow more compact carriage. On launch, the wings unfold and a turbojet propels the missile on a pre-determined course, which is composed of up to 100 different waypoints.

It uses GPS-aided navigation system. Although, the mission profile is pre-programmed, but can be redefined by the pilot of the launching aircraft until immediately before launch.

The 115kg missile is capable of covering a distance of 920km along a pre-programmed route at a subsonic cruising speed of Mach 0.91.

The ADM-160B is powered by a Hamilton Sundstrand TJ-150 aircraft turbojet engine without warhead.