The strategic advantage of American long-range missiles

2024-11-19 17:34:26, Kosova & Bota CNA

The United States decided to allow Ukraine to use long-range American missiles to attack deep into Russian territory. Ukraine had been asking Western allies for permission to use these advanced weapons to strike Russia since the first year of the war. But what exactly are ATACMS missiles and what makes them so effective?

Ukraine today for the first time used the US Army's Tactical Missile Systems, otherwise known as ATACMS, to strike targets inside Russia.

The United States sent these missiles to Ukraine last year, and they have been used to hit military targets in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories — but not on Russian territory. Ukraine had been asking its allies for months to be allowed to use these weapons to strike targets across the border.

So what makes these missiles more effective than the ones Ukraine has used so far? Matthew Savill is scientific director of military affairs at the Royal United Services Institute in Britain.

" So far, HIMARS-type missiles have been used, which are relatively small and are launched in groups to precisely target a target. From a HIMARS system, about eight missiles are launched simultaneously... The ATACMS system, only one is launched. But it's a ballistic missile. It's small, but it's a ballistic missile. It lands at a very high speed. And it's well-aimed is that it has a much longer range ," says Mr Savill.

Ballistic missiles of the ATACMS systems, manufactured by the American aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin, have almost twice the strike distance of most of the missiles at Ukraine's disposal - up to 300 kilometers. They can make precision strikes on airstrips, ammunition depots and strategic infrastructure.

There is also the option for ATACMS systems to use a variant of cluster munitions, which can prove devastating on the battlefield.

" There's talk of dozens of field-delivered munitions; they would be great to use against airports for example, because basically if there were planes on the runways, you could spread the munitions all over the airport without having the need to destroy the runway. It's actually quite difficult to destroy an airstrip ," explains Mr Savill.

Without this Western technology, Ukraine has regularly hit Russia with domestically produced weapons, some of which can even travel distances of up to 1,000 kilometers, but Kiev lacks sufficient quantities to do serious long-term damage.

" With the development of their drone program, the Ukrainians have acquired some long-range weapons. And some of those drones have flown at distances of 1,000 kilometers. So you're talking about three times the range of ATACMS missiles. The difference is that drones carry smaller payloads, so they are not effective against shielded targets ," says Mr Savill.

Ukraine has asked its Western allies for longer-range weapons to shift the balance of power in this war, where Russia has more resources.

Ukraine hopes the weapons will help weaken Russia's air power and supply lines, which it needs to launch daily attacks against Ukraine./ VOA