YTread Logo
YTread Logo

The US Weapon Beating the Russians in Ukraine

Mar 25, 2024
Somewhere in eastern Ukraine, a drab green military truck comes to life and emerges from its temporary shelter inside some trees. At its rear is a single capsule with 6 227 mm rockets; Despite having less power than a traditional multiple launch rocket system, this truck is the deadliest

weapon

in the Ukrainian war. The driver clears the trees and the crew gets to work, as the rocket capsule lifts itself off the truck bed and turns to the left. Target data provided by US satellites and secret intelligence sources is fed into the firing computer, which in turn programs each rocket with its own impact point.
the us weapon beating the russians in ukraine
Once ready, with the push of a button six of the large rockets are launched into the sky. As soon as the last rocket passes in front of the launcher, the truck is already moving. This single piece of rocket artillery provided by the United States is Ukraine's most important

weapon

and is the most sought-after piece of hardware in the entire war. Russian troops are on the hunt for each and every one of these sixteen trucks currently in the nation, and their commanders have been ordered to spend any amount of life necessary to destroy them. Therefore, trucks are constantly moving, never staying still in one place for long, and are always covered by heavy cover when idle.
the us weapon beating the russians in ukraine

More Interesting Facts About,

the us weapon beating the russians in ukraine...

They emerge from their cover of trees or camouflage nets to fire a broadside and then immediately withdraw to avoid counter-battery fire or an air attack. It is a dangerous game of cat and mouse, but to date the Ukrainians have been winning, with devastating effects. The truck is already gone when its rockets find their target. Several dozen miles behind enemy lines, well out of range of any other artillery, Russian Colonel Andrei Vasilyev, commander of an elite parachute regiment, meets with his senior officers. To date, Russia has lost a whopping 55 colonels in its half-year effort in Ukraine, a casualty figure so staggering that the only parallel is that of World War II.
the us weapon beating the russians in ukraine
Thus, Colonel Vasilyev had tried very hard to keep his exact location secret, but American intelligence found him and transmitted the GPS coordinates of his secret command post to the Ukrainians. A rocket hits the command post with an accuracy of half a meter, instantly incinerating the good colonel and his officers. For him, the war is over, but for the Russians still alive, the deadly barrage of rockets continues. Supplies and ammunition for artillery pieces are destroyed, while dozens of other soldiers are killed or wounded in the precision attack. Colonel Andrey Vasilyev is now the 56th Russian colonel to die in Ukraine, but he will not be the last.
the us weapon beating the russians in ukraine
And much of Ukraine's surprising success in recent months is thanks to a single gift from the United States: the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS. The impact of HIMARS in Ukraine cannot be underestimated. While the Javelin has become the patron saint and protector of Ukraine, this American weapon is much deadlier to the Russians than even the Javelin, and that is due to its range and accuracy. With only twelve of these weapons systems in the country, Ukraine has almost completely stopped the Russian offensive. But how can so few weapons cause so much trouble for Russia, and why can't Russia overcome such a small amount of American weapons?
HIMARS was developed in the late 1990s for use by the US military. The system is not much different from other rocket artillery, except for the fact that instead of the two rocket capsules used by the Army's M270 MLRS, HIMARS has a single capsule for much greater mobility. This allows the system to move very quickly to firing position and then escape before enemy counterbattery fire or a ground attack mission reaches the scene, and is why Russia is having such a difficult time neutralizing the dozen units provided to Ukraine. HIMARS can be loaded with a standard six-rocket capsule or can carry a single tactical ballistic missile with rapid conversion.
Its rockets have a range of between 1.2 and 190 miles (2-300 km), or up to 190 miles (300 km) when using the Army's ATACM surface-to-surface missiles. It can even be equipped with SLAMRAAM missiles, surface-launched variants of the AMRAAM anti-aircraft missile. But its versatility doesn't end there, because unlike any other rocket artillery in the world, HIMARS can even attack targets while loaded on a transport ship. In October 2017, the US Marine Corps fired a single rocket while at sea from the deck of an amphibious transport ship and successfully hit a shore target with precision. This now makes HIMARS deadly not only on land, but even when still loaded on a ship and waiting to be delivered.
The weapons system saw wide use in the conflicts between Iraq and Afghanistan, and in a prelude to what was to come, if Russia had been paying attention, the high accuracy of the HIMARS allowed it to target the hideouts of Taliban commanders in October 2010, forcing them to temporarily flee the country. With its impressive range and accuracy, HIMARS has fired more than 400 rockets at Islamic State militants since November 2015, and a year later fired rockets into Syria in support of the Syrian rebels there. In January 2016, manufacturer Lockheed-Martin announced that HIMARS had reached 1 million operational hours with U.S. forces, achieving an incredible 99 percent operational readiness rate.
Compare that to fighter jets that have been slacking at around a 70% readiness rate for years and you can see why HIMARS and its precision fire have become an incredibly important tool for the US military. And now it is the most important tool of the Ukrainian army. Russia must have been sleeping for the last decade, because upon making its appearance in Ukraine, the impact of HIMARS was immediate. The first four units arrived on June 23 and just two days later they were in use against Russian forces, killing more than 40 Russian soldiers in a precision strike on a military base in Izyum.
For the first time since the war began, Russian rear areas were threatened by Ukrainian weapons, and the fear generated by this realization was palpable, especially as successful fire mission after successful fire mission was carried out. Within days of its initial salvo, the Russian military said that the United States' M270 MLRS and M142 HIMARS were the most dangerous weapons in Ukraine and that it was vital that Russian forces destroy them at any cost. However, not all Russian officers were convinced and it was believed that their air defense units, such as the S-300 and S-400 systems, would be capable of knocking American rockets out of the sky.
However, that never happened, prompting the Russian government to launch an investigation into the manufacturer of the S-300 air defense system, just one of many ongoing investigations into the failures or poor performance of Russian weapons. For Russian air defense operators, HIMARS rockets fly too fast and too high for their systems to understand them as a threat; They have the flight path of traditional artillery but with the speed of a fighter jet, and this can wreak havoc when trying to identify them. a HIMARS attack. Russian software will need to be patched to begin targeting incoming rockets, a development that could take months to complete, if Russia can accomplish the feat given all its current difficulties.
However, any doubt among Russian officials about the lethal effectiveness of HIMARS was dispelled in the coming weeks, when Ukrainian bombing raids targeted Russian command posts and supply depots, causing crippling casualties in Russia's command and control networks and destroying more than fifty supply depots. On July 4, Ukraine even honored the American independence holiday (with help from the Russians) with an alleged HIMARS attack on a massive munitions depot. HIMARS has been so effective in countering Russian forces that Ukrainian commanders report that Russian bombing has been reduced tenfold afterwards. successful HIMARS attacks, saving the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers.
But how is it possible that twelve weapons are changing the course of the war in Ukraine? It has everything to do with precision. Russia has the largest amount of artillery in the world and has come to be called an "artillery army." However, the vast majority of that artillery is not guided at all. It is fundamentally the same artillery that has been used since World War II. However, HIMARS is a complete game changer, because it is smart while Russian artillery is dumb and has longer range. With its extended range, HIMARS can hit targets far behind front lines, putting areas normally considered safe from enemy attack at great risk.
This means command posts, staging areas, supply depots, and even long-range air defense or ground attack systems – all juicy, very high-value targets that traditional artillery simply can't hit. As command posts and supplies are forced to relocate further behind battle lines, Russian troops cannot move or react as quickly as they did before, slowing an offensive and limiting the Russian military's ability to Take advantage of opportunities on the battlefield. Overextending becomes a very real problem and could lead to a total disaster. But the system's real strength comes from precision, because HIMARS can accomplish in one salvo what traditional artillery takes dozens, if not hundreds, of shots.
And Ukraine is using that precision to great effect by attacking Russian supplies and command posts. This is a strategy in place since the beginning of the war, with Ukraine devastating Russian logistics even to the point of ignoring targets such as artillery, troops or tanks. After all, without fuel and ammunition, an army cannot fight. And Russian forces are finding they have serious supply problems thanks to HIMARS destroying their supply centers, greatly slowing the pace of their advance and even halting it in some places. The use of just twelve HIMARS systems has helped open a window for a Ukrainian counterattack in the south, which is expected to begin in late July and will likely have already begun by the time you watch this episode.
But precision is of no use if you don't know where the enemy's juiciest targets are, and this is largely where the United States intervenes. The United States has been supplying large amounts of intelligence to Ukrainian forces since the start of the conflict, and the United States is very good at detecting enemy VIPs and other high-priority targets. This is partly due to one of the largest intelligence apparatuses in the world, but also due to the Russians themselves, who have almost no concept of operational or communications security. A fundamental lack of encrypted radios has allowed Ukraine and the United States to spy on Russian communications and take appropriate action.
American intelligence has led to more than a dozen Russian generals receiving early and permanent retirement. And with HIMARS on the front lines, that list is sure to grow. The United States has committed to keeping Ukraine resupplied with the rockets it needs to continue attacking Russian targets, and is even sending additional HIMARS units over the next two months. Ukraine has said that with 100 of these systems it could expel Russia from its territory, and although we do not know how many the United States will end up sending to Ukraine, we know that the delivery of another four is already being planned.
For its part, Russia has publicly downplayed the threat posed by HIMARS, but the facts do not lie. Russian use of artillery has been significantly reduced in areas where HIMARS is in play, as Russian gunners are forced to conserve ammunition and the destruction of American weapons has become a top priority. Russia claims it has destroyed four of the units to date, a claim both Ukraine and the Pentagon deny. Now we have news that the US House of Representatives has approved a measure to provide $100 million in funding to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of US F-15s and F-16s.
If the bill passes the Senate in September, Ukrainian pilots could begin training in January next year on American aircraft. By next summer, Russia could have yet another headache as it now faces modern American weapons both on the ground and in the sky. However, the real question is: with all its bluster about destroying NATO, how exactly is Russia planning to do it when it can't even handle a dozen American HIMARS? With almost 400 HIMARS units in service, other NATO members are now requesting theweapons system to the United States, which is bad news for Vladimir Putin's dream of Russian expansionism.
Now see What will Ukraine do after its war with Russia? Or click on this other video!

If you have any copyright issue, please Contact