here are five weapons that ukraine must have to win against the russian invasion
the united states and a handful of its nato allies are delivering military aid to ukraine including
weapons that member countries hope will deter or blunt a possible russian invasion on wednesday
the biden administration announced it would send 200 million dollars in military aid to ukraine and
greenlit a plan for the baltic states of estonia latvia and lithuania to ship american-built arms
there meanwhile the united kingdom delivered 2000 nlaw short-range anti-tank weapons to ukrainian
military forces however those arms are a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the former soviet
state would need to stand up to its neighbor although the united states and nato have ruled
out direct military deployments to ukraine it seems likely the alliance will send more equipment
the weapons would ideally neutralize russia's strengths while exploiting its weaknesses
russia's nearly 100 battalion tactical groups are heavily mechanized and tanks
and infantry fighting vehicles would spearhead any major assault on ukraine
another key strength is artillery which moscow could use to pummel ukrainian defenders before
a ground assault finally if russia wins and forces kiev's armies in militias underground
they'd need guerilla weapons to bleed their occupiers white
so if the united states does open up the arsenal of democracy providing even more support which
weapons should kiev have on its wish list number one agm-148 javelin anti-tank missiles
the united states has already sent javelin anti-tank missiles to ukraine but it could
use many many more javelin is an older missile but it's still highly effective against tanks plus its
range of 2500 meters would allow ukrainian units to defend five kilometers of front more than three
miles at a time the us previously sold ukraine 47 command launch units and 370 actual missiles
ukraine has barely enough javelins to equip an army brigade it has nearly 30 brigades
as well as an assortment of smaller units reservists and special operations forces
fully outfitting the ukrainian ground forces with javelins would require
something on the order of 1500 command launch units and 5000 or more missiles
number 2 m142 high mobility artillery rocket system himars is a rocket artillery system
that consists of six 227 millimeter rocket tubes on a truck chassis making for a highly
mobile yet powerful artillery system himars can launch the guided multiple launch rocket system
a gps guided rocket with a high explosive warhead ukraine already has a lot of cannon artillery
marked cancion a retired u.s marine corps officer and analyst at the washington dc based center for
strategic and international studies tells popular mechanics precision missiles would be very useful
ukrainian units could use a highmars combo to target russian army units far behind the
front lines showering headquarters units fuel dumps air defenses and artillery with precision
guided rockets a range of 43 miles would undermine the morale of russian forces far
from the front lines and allow ukraine to strike targets inside russia itself
number 3 fim-92 stinger missile the stinger missile is a short-range manned portable
air defense system the shoulder-fired missile weighs 33.5 pounds has a range of 2.98 miles
and uses an infrared seeker to home in on the heat emissions of low-flying aircraft
the ukrainians are very vulnerable from the air kansian explains and their air force is weak
stinger missiles would be particularly useful in negating russia's advantage in helicopters
both mi 817s transport helicopters and cough 52 attack helicopters
these helicopters would be used to transport air assault troops to landing zones 200 or more miles
behind enemy lines as well as to provide close air support to russian ground units and to hunt
ukrainian tanks stingers would also be useful against the russian army's fleet of 500 drones
including the orlan 10 a medium-range drone used to locate targets for russian artillery
number 4 an pvs-15 night vision goggles the an-pvs-15 is a helmet-mounted binocular night
vision device giving the user stereoscopic night vision with a 40 degree field of view
night vision goggles are very helpful for infantry combat in close quarters like
the world war one style frontline seen in ukraine kansian says the an-pvs-15
or something like it would improve the ukrainian ground foss's ability to fight at night
they would also be very useful to insurgents and special forces operating behind russian lines
allowing them to fight rear area russian ground forces troops forced to make do without them
number five improvised explosive devices the united states spent nearly 20 years mostly in iraq
and afghanistan fighting adversaries that used increasingly sophisticated improvised explosive
devices the devices sometimes using explosives including aircraft bombs in artillery shells and
incorporating anti-tamper protection were planted along roads and routes used by u.s forces and
detonated underneath otherwise protected vehicles russian forces occupying any part of ukraine will
similarly rely on the local road network and the deeper into the country they occupy the more
roads they will utilize a ukrainian insurgency powered by american know-how and improvised
explosive devices could extract a crippling toll on russian truck and security convoys
american weapons sent to ukraine must be easy to use inexpensive and hard for
the russians to destroy an f-35 joint strike fighter parked at a ukrainian airfield would
be the most powerful weapon on either side but easily destroyed on the ground however
77 million dollars in missiles night vision goggles and roadside bombs
the cost of af-35 would quickly filter out into the countryside where they would be impossible
to destroy in one strike and steadily whittle away russia's numerical advantage
all right