Range of 300 km at 3,000 km/h

In his final weeks at the helm of the White House, Biden is doubling down on aid and military support for Zelensky to continue his defense against Putin’s invasion. The latest movement communicated from Washington DC is the green light for the Ukrainian troops can carry out long-range attacks hitting Russian territory. It is essentially a question of using the famous ATACAMS missiles – a model which Spain does not have – as protagonists of this war on a new scale as it faces its third winter.

The reasons for the turnaround appear to lie in the Kremlin’s decision to deploy North Korean troops to the front, several defense officials said. New York Times. This announcement also comes just hours after a massive attack by Russia against part of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, using 120 missiles and 90 drones.

The American authorities have not commented directly on the subject, so there would remain an official confirmation to complete a measure much requested by the Ukrainian military sphere. “Today many media outlets say that we have received permission to take appropriate measures,” Zelensky said in a speech. “But blows are not delivered with words. These things are not advertised. The rockets will speak for themselves.”

These rockets to which the Ukrainian president refers are American-made ATACMS which arrived in the European country after successive requests. In October 2023, the US Department of Defense agreed to send these munitions to Ukraine with the provided that attacks are never carried out on Russian territory for fear of an escalation by Moscow, which has threatened to use nuclear weapons since the start of the war.

ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles were developed during the latter stages of the Cold War and entered official service in 1990. They are a ground-to-ground attack system manufactured by the American Lockheed Martinwho was also responsible for creating the different versions available.

Likewise, there are other types of advanced weapons delivered by NATO countries with restrictions. As shown in TWZthe SCALP-EG supplied by France and the British Storm Shadow were used exclusively on the Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian troops, but the recent movement of the White House could rush the door of Paris and London to also open the door to attacks. directly to Russia.

The keys to war

One of the key points of these American missiles is their compatibility with the HIMARS systems already operational on Ukrainian soil and which took place last May. received approval from the Biden administration to carry out attacks on Russian territory. On this occasion, as on many others, the Kremlin threatened battlefield escalation over the use of Western weapons on its territory.

This particularity makes the ATACMS one of the best candidates to promote the counter-offensivemaintain Kursk and could be applied in a very large number of scenarios against critical infrastructures. In addition, they exceed the maximum speed of 3,000 kilometers per hour, complicating the work of the various anti-aircraft shields deployed by Russia.

The first version of the missile family, known as the M39, has a GPS-independent inertial guidance system that allows it to reach up to 165 kilometers from the launch point. It equips a total of 950 mini-bombs in the form of submunitions, making it one of the most powerful fragmentation missiles in its category. a second ago version with 300 submunitions using GPS guidance and up to 300 kilometers range.

The missile performs a stabilized rotation during the terminal phase of the attack at the same time as a small warhead detonates and the submunitions are distributed evenly in a circular pattern. The surface covered by the cluster missile can be configured as desired by varying the drop height of the submunitions.

Each of the submunitions is approximately the size of a baseball and each contains a highly explosive spherical fragmentation charge. The rocket is armed when it reaches 2,400 revolutions per minute of rotation and activates when it hits the target.

Hundreds of submunitions generate a large cloud of shrapnel and explosions particularly effective against poorly protected elementssuch as personnel on foot or parked planes. Also against anti-aircraft systems such as the S-300, which have very sensitive and easily damaged sensors and elements.

Ships docked together could also be a target for these munitions. Even if a single missile could not directly sink a ship, hundreds of explosive submunitions could cause significant damage, primarily to sensors on the deck and mast.

One of the two big unknowns that remains to be resolved is how many missiles of this model Ukraine has in its arsenal and whether it sufficient to execute a medium-scale attack. The other question is whether President-elect Donald J. Trump will withdraw this concession when he takes office on January 20.