Newer variations of the US-made ATACMS wouldn’t stand in opposition to Russia’s air defenses, a German journalist claims
The long-range ATACMS missiles Washington had delivered to Kiev are allegedly not essentially the most trendy ones, German journalist Julian Roepcke claimed in a sequence of social media posts on Tuesday. The reporter, who works with the tabloid Bild and wrote a chunk on the problem, defined that Russian defenses would merely intercept essentially the most trendy GPS-guided missiles.
“The US offered Ukraine with the unique previous model of the missile (MGM-140A),” Roepcke mentioned, including that the projectiles handed over to Kiev have a “basic inertial navigation system” as a substitute of GPS steering.
That makes them totally autonomous and resistant to sign jamming. But, such techniques are susceptible to accumulating navigation errors, which may scale back the missile’s accuracy relying on the vary. Missiles with such navigation techniques additionally often require a quite prolonged pre-launch adjustment to enter the goal coordinates.
Newer, GPS-guided ATACMS variations would nonetheless be even much less efficient in a struggle in opposition to Russia, the journalist maintained, including that Moscow’s troops have been recognized for his or her “profitable … jamming assaults on most GPS-guided weapons” utilized by Kiev’s forces.
The older variations even have a variety of about 165km as a substitute of greater than 300km within the case of the newer ATACMS missiles, Roepcke mentioned. He added that such an operational radius drastically reduces Ukraine’s capabilities of probably putting targets deeper within the Russian-controlled territory and makes the realm from which they are often fired at some Russian rear positions very restricted.
Earlier this week, US Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson confirmed that the US had solely offered Ukraine with a “sort of ATACMS able to ranging out to 165km.” “We consider it will present a big enhance to Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities with out risking our army readiness,” she mentioned in an announcement cited by the American media.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky thanked Washington for supplying the missiles on Tuesday. He additionally claimed that Kiev’s troops had already used them in opposition to the Russian forces. The Ukrainian army acknowledged that Russia’s “airfields and helicopters” within the Lugansk and Zaporozhye areas had been struck with the projectiles.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned that the ATACMS deliveries would solely “delay the agony” of Ukraine, including that Russian forces would have the ability to repel any such assaults that will in the end hardly have an effect on the course of the battle.
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