The United States will send a “small quantity” of Atacms (Army Tactical Missile System) long-range missiles to Ukraine. The weapons arrive in Kiev almost by surprise and, although in small numbers, they can at least partially change the picture of the war against Russia.
The turning point was announced by US administration officials on the NBC broadcaster, while yesterday the White House national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, regarding the supply of these missiles to Kiev, stated that “the president has decided that he will not provide ATACMS to Ukraine, but he has not taken the issue off the table for the future either”, excluding the presence of ATACMS in the latest military aid package. Three officials cited by the broadcaster specified that a limited but unspecified quantity of missiles will be delivered to Ukraine, without clarifying the timing.
How Atacms missiles work
The new weapons fill a gap in Kiev’s chessboard. In fact, the Atacms can hit up to 300 km away and can change their trajectory in flight to avoid being intercepted. A power and precision of fire never before possessed by the Ukrainian army, which can accelerate in the counter-offensive that has been underway for weeks towards the East and South.
Produced by the US company Lockheed Martin, the Atacms are tactical surface-to-surface missiles (SSMs). Through GPS navigation systems, they can modify the trajectory in flight, and are compatible with the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) tracked vehicles and with the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars), which the Ukrainian armed forces have been using for some time.
Lockheed Martin describes the weapon as a “long-range guided missile that gives operational commanders the immediate firepower to win battles in depth.”
The Atacms are four meters long, 610 millimeters in diameter and each missile is packaged in a launch capsule similar to the MLRS and is launched from the MLRS family of launchers. The unit price is estimated at over 1 million dollars, and in addition to the US army, there are 8 operating countries, 3 of which are European: Poland, Romania and Greece. Atacms have been used extensively in land warfare in Operation Desert Storm (1991) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003).
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