Let's Say It Together: ATACMS

These U.S.-supplied missiles will be game-changers - and that could mean either for the good or the bad. Only time will tell

Courtesy of Business Insider

The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin. It uses solid propellant, is 13 feet high and 24 inches in diameter, and the longest-range variants can fly up to 190 miles (Wikipedia).

Over the last month, the United States secretly delivered to Ukraine the ATACMS missiles. The only information about their delivery became public knowledge when Ukraine launched them against a Russian airfield in the occupied territories of Eastern Ukraine. Vladimir Putin was in China playing down the significance of the missile delivery. Still, Russian military bloggers on Telegram called the assault on the airfield one of the worst, if not the worst, against Russia since the world began.

Russian milblogger Fighterbomber said on Tuesday that the strike was “one of the most serious blows . . . if not the most serious” of Russia’s Special Military Operation, which is what Russia calls the invasion.

“There are losses in both people and technology,” the milblogger said, according to the Financial Times’ translation (Russian Milblogger Admits).

It is estimated that nine helicopters, an air defense launcher, vehicles, ammo dumps, and airfields were damaged or destroyed. It is unknown how many missiles have been supplied, but the number is believed to be around a dozen.

The continued arming of Ukraine with ever more lethal and advanced weaponry is surely a problem for Russia. With dwindling supplies and a depleted army, Russia’s new-found partner, North Korea, won’t be able to provide Russia with the same level of armament. The arms believed to be flooding into Russia by train from North Korea are thought to be guns, ammunition, artillery shells, and other such equipment. As seen in past shipments from North Korea, the ammo has been relatively low-grade and has tended not to blow up.

The seal, however, has been broken and everyone opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine likes the results of Ukraine’s first ATACMS-day. All Russian assets now in the occupied territories are vulnerable. The destruction scale could rapidly decimate Russia’s long-term fighting potential and push the hawks inside the Kremlin to feel the need to escalate. As Putin hinted, a response will be forthcoming, and no one will like it when more Ukrainians die due to the U.S. arming Ukraine.

Putin is right. We won’t like his continued murder of the Ukrainian people. We don’t want Russia to escalate by using weapons with more deadly potential. Nonetheless, all Russian military personnel and equipment located in Ukraine is fair game, and so if it now requires these missiles to press that point, then so be it. Ukraine is not firing these missiles at apartment buildings, hospitals, stores, or train stations as Russia has been doing since February 22, 2022.

Because of lingering U.S. concerns about escalating tensions with Russia, the ATACMS version that went to Ukraine will have a shorter range than the maximum distance the missiles can have. While some versions of the missiles can go as far as about 180 miles (about 300 kilometers), the ones sent to Ukraine have a shorter range and carry cluster munitions, which, when fired, open in the air, releasing hundreds of bomblets rather than a single warhead. According to a U.S. official, the ones delivered to Ukraine have a maximum range of a bit more than 100 miles (Russian Milblogger Admits)

The “lingering concerns” may soon evaporate once the U.S. is better able to assess Russia’s response, or the response may be so harsh and violent that it will be made clear to all involved that a limit has been reached and any continued arming could lead to a direct and fiery collision between the U.S. and Russia.

The arrival of the missiles doubles Kyiv’s reach and stretches Russia’s logistical route that much further — we all know how Russia struggles with logistics.

That allows Ukraine to hit deep behind Russia’s lines, which is where it stores aircraft, ammunition, and other weapons. The range is double that of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), which Kyiv has fired from its HIMARS weapons (Russian Milblogger Admits).

One concern is that the “next upgrade” in armaments could result in an assault creep that will see more and more missiles landing inside Russia. While I have no problem with this, given what Russia has done to Ukraine, I again fear that hawks could take over in Moscow, and this war could ultimately become our last. The way things are going around the world in other regions, things are not looking good for us humans.