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Ukrainian troops have completed training in the fastest anti-aircraft missile in the world that will present a severe threat to Russian aircraft, the British defence secretary has confirmed.
Ben Wallace said the advanced Starstreak weapon that travels at more than 5,000kph and is made in Belfast had been deployed into the war zone for the first time and would be used imminently against the Russian offensive.
Britain’s defence industry is benefitting significantly from the Ukraine conflict with shares soaring among companies supplying missiles and other hardware.
“One of the biggest challenges is that the more you go up in sophistication of weapons systems, the more training you require to use them,” he told The Mail on Sunday. With Britain providing more than 10,000 anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, it was “doing more than pretty much anyone else” to help Ukraine's military, he said.
Ukraine’s troops are understood to have been trained in the more challenging Starstreak system via remote online learning and potentially by British instructors operating in Eastern Europe.
Unlike other surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), Starstreak, built in Northern Ireland, follows a laser beam-guidance system rather than heat-seeking that can be deterred by magnesium flares.
It is incredibly fast, reaching a maximum velocity of three times the speed of sound, or Mach 4, much faster than the top speed of a Stinger anti-aircraft missile which can travel at Mach 2.5. It also has a range of seven kilometres, with each missile carrying three tungsten-alloy darts each weighing 450g.
Ukraine’s medium range SAM threat has largely forced Russian jets to fly low and fast, which will make them vulnerable to the shoulder-launched weapon. Starstreak will prove particularly deadly for helicopters, giving pilots little time to react.
The weapon that is proving decisive in hitting Russian armour is the British-made Next Generation Anti-Tank Weapon (NLAW). A Ukraine army official has said up to 40 per cent of all Russian tanks destroyed in the conflict have been hit by NLAWs.
Defence minister James Heappey argued in the Commons on Monday that small detachments of Ukrainian troops armed with NLAWs had proven highly capable at attacking the large, slow-moving Russian armoured formations.
“We have seen on the footage of Ukrainians, interrupting activities of fast armoured columns, that small bands of determined people with the right missile technology are far more lethal than any opposing armoured force might prove to be,” he said.
Britain has sent more than 4,000 of the advanced but easy-to-use missiles, which at £20,000 ($26,170) each are significantly cheaper than US-made Javelin, estimated at £156,000.
The NLAWs and Starstreaks are both made at the former Shorts factory in Belfast that is now owned by Thales, a French company.
With the company advertising 22 jobs, including one for a “missile architect”, it is clearly experiencing a post-pandemic boon in which share prices for some defence companies have increased by up to 72 per cent in a day. Thales’s share price has risen by 42 per cent in the past month.
With the German defence budget leaping to $100 billion a year, it is expected that more military items will be bought from British companies, including the Eurofighter Typhoon and meteor air-to-air missiles, which are made in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Results
Stage three:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-43
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
4. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
5. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
6. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN) UAE-Team Emirates, at 24s
General Classification:
1. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) EF Education-EasyPost, in 9-13-02
2. Filippo Ganna (ITA) Ineos Grenadiers, at 7s
3. Jasper Philipsen (BEL) Alpecin Fenix, at 12s
4. Tom Dumoulin (NED) Jumbo-Visma, at 14s
5. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE-Team Emirates, at 18s
6. Joao Almeida (POR) UAE-Team Emirates, at 22s
Company%20profile
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Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Favourite things
Luxury: Enjoys window shopping for high-end bags and jewellery
Discount: She works in luxury retail, but is careful about spending, waits for sales, festivals and only buys on discount
University: The only person in her family to go to college, Jiang secured a bachelor’s degree in business management in China
Masters: Studying part-time for a master’s degree in international business marketing in Dubai
Vacation: Heads back home to see family in China
Community work: Member of the Chinese Business Women’s Association of the UAE to encourage other women entrepreneurs
Avatar%20(2009)
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The BIO
Favourite piece of music: Verdi’s Requiem. It’s awe-inspiring.
Biggest inspiration: My father, as I grew up in a house where music was constantly played on a wind-up gramophone. I had amazing music teachers in primary and secondary school who inspired me to take my music further. They encouraged me to take up music as a profession and I follow in their footsteps, encouraging others to do the same.
Favourite book: Ian McEwan’s Atonement – the ending alone knocked me for six.
Favourite holiday destination: Italy - music and opera is so much part of the life there. I love it.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Trippier bio
Date of birth September 19, 1990
Place of birth Bury, United Kingdom
Age 26
Height 1.74 metres
Nationality England
Position Right-back
Foot Right