After Bayraktar TB2,
the Ukrainians have a new weapon to sing about - HIMARS or High-Mobility Advanced Rocket System
Taras Borovok, the Ukrainian soldier
who previously penned a viral musical tribute to the Turkish-supplied Bayraktar drone,
recently released a new song paying tribute to the American-supplied system,
“HIMARS! Our trusted ally from America is here. Do you want to meet him?” goes the
catchy tune shared on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff.
Rockets fired from HIMARS have struck more than 30 Russian targets behind enemy lines in Ukraine,
including ammunition depots and command and control posts.
As per most accounts, they’ve thrown Russian logistics into disarray and are slowing the
Russian military’s advance in eastern Ukraine. The impact is so significant that Russian
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered his forces to prioritize destroying them.
While HIMARS has done a great job, it can do much more.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why HIMARS is a caged beast that has not been
fully unleashed on Russia? Let's get started
HIMARS has one universal pod that can accommodate
6 unguided/guided missiles of 227 mm caliber or one MGM-140 ATACMS.
The standard unguided rockets have a maximum range of 28 miles or 45 km.
With the extended range guided rocket GMLRS or Guided MLRS,
the system can reach a land target at a maximum range of 46 miles or 75 km.
GMLRS rockets have a reliability rating exceeding 98 %. GMLRS has been provided to Ukraine
and is responsible for the damages on damages on the Russian side.
But the more potent weapon MGM-140 ATACMS has not been provided yet.
MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a surface-to-surface missile
(SSM) manufactured by the U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin. It has a range of up to 190 miles
(300 km), with solid propellant, and is 13 feet (4.0 m) high and 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter.
It has different variants, equipped with different types of warheads
like HE, HE blast fragmentation etc. Technically, it is a much more potent weapon.
As per a Tweet from The Kyiv Independent, it is noted that in a briefing on July 22,
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
said that U.S. President Joe Biden is not prepared to provide Ukraine with ATACMS.
Sullivan stated that, while providing the necessary resources to support
and defend Ukraine remains a key goal of the U.S., another key goal is to “ensure we do not
end up in a circumstance where we’re heading down the road towards a third world war.”
Even with GMLRS, the Ukrainian force can hit targets in Russian territory from certain areas.
But that option has not been used.
Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine stated earlier,
"We made a commitment that we would not use high-precision weapons against
Russian objects on the territory of the Russian Federation.
We have confirmed it everywhere, even I personally did so in a letter addressed to
my colleague – the head of the Pentagon – that we will use American weapons to deter the enemy
and de-occupy temporarily occupied lands [by the Russian army] only on the territory of Ukraine."
While Russia is using all types of tactics, including destroying civilian targets
and causing huge loss of human life, Ukraine's hands are tied when it comes to using HIMARS.