“American HIMARS will be Russia’s first target in Ukraine”

The list of the new, already eleventh US military aid package looks quite impressive, air defense radars, counterbattery radars, Mi-17 helicopters, vehicles, anti-tank weapons, including Javelin anti-tank systems, additional artillery ammunition, as well as HIMARS MLRS.

It is noteworthy that the day before, American President Joe Biden doubted the need to procure “long-range weapons”, realizing that even the hypothetical use throughout Russia could lead to an escalation of the conflict, and this could lead to a conflict that would directly affect NATO countries. Europe.

As a result, the USA nevertheless decided to transfer the long-range HIMARS to Ukraine. This was said during a telephone briefing to accredited journalists to the White House. “These systems will be used by the Ukrainians to repel the advance of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory and will not be used to hit targets on Russian soil,” the White House said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke on this subject the previous day, arguing that “the war will not be handed over to Russia”. At the same time, the bombing of Russian regions neighboring Ukraine by the Ukrainian Armed Forces continues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow did not trust the words of the Ukrainian President. “To be trustworthy, it is necessary to have experience in situations where relevant promises are kept. But there is no such experience,” he said.

The M142 HIMARS, which is expected to be sent to Ukraine, is a universal launcher capable of carrying six 240 mm rockets (a 227 mm projectile with a reduced firing range is also used) or one ATACMS operational-tactical missile. Both guided and unguided MLRS shells have a firing range of up to 45 km, and in the version of the GMLRS M30 rocket – up to 70 km.

“The subtlety is that HIMARS can be equipped with tactical missiles. There are six modifications, there is a different firing range – from 140 to 300 km. According to some information, the ATACMS Blok 1A missile can even hit at a distance of up to 500 km, ”said the retired Major General of the Strategic Missile Forces Valery Popov to Gazeta.ru.

On the other hand, retired military specialist Gennady Alekhin, living in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, is confident that if Kiev gets it, he will definitely try to use ATACMS Block 1A against Russia.

“This blood rocket could devastate the entire Donbass. Plus, the Bryansk and Belgorod regions may be in the zone of defeat. The Ukrainian Armed Forces can deliver striking blows to Russian soil. With one explanation – if they can use these settings. HIMARS is a highly complex multiple launch rocket system, in the Ukrainian army. There were no analogues. Again, it is necessary to understand that a real hunt for them will be organized by the Russian army. And if they can be transferred to Poland by NATO aircraft – the installation is placed on the S-130 transport, then five-ton trucks with characteristic missile guides will be most carefully monitored from the air and destroyed HIMARS will be the first target of Russian aviation,” says Alekhin.

The expert added that most likely the US will not fully supply Ukraine with long-range tactical missiles for HIMARS systems and will limit itself to unguided shells.

“The American multiple launch rocket system, if it reaches Ukraine, will be considered a potential threat to the Russian military. For HIMARS there is worthy opposition from Russian missile defense systems, which successfully shot down the Tochka-U missiles that launched the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Even complexes like the S-300 will cope with HIMARS, not to mention the S-400 and S-500,” military expert Vladislav Shurygin told socialbites.ca.

He reminded that HIMARS systems are used only in warfare in Syria and Afghanistan, and that these complexes do not have to overcome missile defense systems.

“So the ability for these systems to work in the presence of missile defense is not very clear. By the way, they did not always work correctly in Afghanistan.

Civilians often came under fire and not militants who appeared to be targeted. The accuracy of HIMARS missiles is far from ideal, with the possibility of a circular deviation of more than 200 meters. A high-profile incident occurred when a rocket hit a residential building in Afghanistan’s Marja province. For some time after that, the complex was not even used.

Given that the quality of training of specialists of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is objectively worse than that of the Americans, this deviation will be even greater, ”said the author.

Most likely, the new US military aid package, estimated at $700 million, could include the extended-range multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) M142 HIMARS. This will be Kiev’s longest-range weapon. “socialbites.ca” understood the peculiarities of the work of these American systems and how to resist them.



Source: Gazeta

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