After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the West has been assisting Ukraine with various weapons, which on the one hand are chosen by the West to provide, such as Stinger missiles, Starlight missiles, etc., on the other hand, Ukraine is chasing the West to ask for, such as Leopard II tanks, F-16 fighters, and the army tactical missiles we want to talk about today.
The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report on the 29th that officials in the United States and Europe said that the United States is considering approving the provision of Army Tactical Ballistic Missiles (ATACMS) to Ukraine. However, the Pentagon denied on the same day that it did not know about the relevant decision.
This is similar to the aid tanks, which were denied at first, but eventually appeared on the battlefield.
This missile has always been chased by the Ukrainian army and asked for by the United States, it can be loaded in the Hymas rocket launcher tube, and the maximum range is that it can reach 300 kilometers, which is much longer than the 70-kilometer range of the rocket used by Hymas. Although Hymas can only reload one at a time, unlike rockets that can reload 6.
With such a long range, the Ukrainian army can hit the entire Crimean Peninsula, the Kerch Strait, etc. from a very safe place, and the Russian army will inevitably face more dangerous blows. The Russian army has been watching whether this missile is already in the hands of the Ukrainian army, such as the explosion of the Saki airbase in Crimea last August, and the Russian army suspects that the United States secretly assisted this missile.
The army strike missile ATACMS not only has a long range, but also has a high accuracy, the so-called 300 kilometers error is less than one meter, it can also carry different warheads, such as high-explosive warheads, sub-munitions, and last-sensitive shells for attacking tank armored vehicles. Integrated in the Hymas system, its rapid deployment and response capabilities are very strong, a short time to complete the launch preparation, the main long-range strike means of the US Army, and then the US Air Force is responsible, Ukraine especially wants, is because it lacks air attack means, can hit 150 kilometers of the old dot missile has long been exhausted, helpless to targets more than 100 kilometers, the West gave intelligence for nothing, so the Ukrainian army is very eager for this missile.
So how much of this missile can the United States give?
Since the deployment of the US military in 1991, the Army tactical missiles have participated in the Gulf War and other major wars, responsible for attacking deep tactical targets and long-range enemy cluster targets, so many years the US military has launched more than 600 pieces, Lockheed Martin has produced a total of 3850 pieces, some of which are exported to Bahrain, Greece, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and so on. It can be seen that the number is relatively sufficient, even if only 50-100 pieces are given, the Russian army will not be able to stand it, and the originally safe place will face a blow.
This year, the US military has begun to receive Lockheed Martin's newly developed precision strike missile PrSM, this missile is only half the size of the army tactical missile, but the range may be as high as 500 kilometers or more, using modular warheads, and will also launch anti-ship type, Lockheed Martin is now in the low-speed production stage, with an annual output of more than 100 pieces, and it is reported that it is about to enter the high-speed production stage, so the old army tactical missiles are going to stock, and it is inevitable to appear in the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.