The U.K.'s Starstreak missile is re-entering production after more than ten years as Ukrainian forces make efficient use of portable anti-aircraft systems in their ongoing war against Russia.
The Starstreak, which is described as the "fastest missile of its type in the world" by manufacturer Thales, will be produced at the firm's Northern Ireland factory along with other weapons for Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But "it will take a bit of time to order and to produce and deliver these missiles," the company's chief executive, Patrice Caine, told the publication.
Starstreak missiles are one of the MANPADS, or Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems, that Ukraine has effectively leveraged against Russian forces. Western militaries have not typically utilised such portable air defenses for years, but the Ukraine war has brought these types of weapons back to the fore.
The Starstreak can travel at up to three times the speed of sound, and releases three tungsten darts at its target.
"The idea is that this gives a much greater chance of a hit than a single warhead," defense and military expert David Hambling told Newsweek.
Starstreak missiles can travel more than a kilometer in under one second, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry, and can be either shoulder-fired or mounted onto a military vehicle.
MANPADS, like the Starstreak or the U.S.-made Stinger, are used to target fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and other threats from the sky such as drones. MANPADS only need one person to operate them, and can be quickly moved and used on the battlefield.
Both the Stinger and the Starstreak "were developed as a solution to the same problem," according to Hambling, the protection of infantry from attack helicopters and gunships.
The Stinger and Starstreak look similar but work in different ways, he added. The Stinger—made by Raytheon, which also manufactures Patriot air defense missiles—is a heat-seeking missile that uses a single warhead to lock onto a target. Starstreak is a guided missile with an operator keeping the target in its crosshairs, Hambling said.
The U.S. has sent more than 1,700 Stingers so far, but they can be "decoyed by flares or other countermeasures which lure the missile away from the target," Hambling said.
"Starstreak is immune to these countermeasures, but the need to keep the target in the crosshairs rather than the fire-and-forget of Stinger might be seen as a corresponding disadvantage," he continued.
"Starstreak's other selling point is that it is a 'hypervelocity missile' with a speed of around Mach 4, about twice as fast as Stinger, giving much less chance for targets to get away," he argued.
However, "for decades these weapons have been generally irrelevant as Western forces have enjoyed air superiority and air dominance in every campaign," Hambling said.
Because Ukraine does not have this advantage, and Russia may be looking to use air power to combat Ukraine's emerging counteroffensive, "this is exactly the situation where weapons like Stinger and Starstreak will be most needed," he continued.
"I would not want to be flying at low level if Starstreak was about," former U.K. air force squadron leader, Andy Netherwood, told The Times of London in March 2022.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
