Ukraine: the American Himars multiple rocket launcher, a new asset for the Ukrainian armed forces

In this file photo from May 23, 2011, a launch truck fires the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) produced by Lockheed Martin during combat training in the high desert from the training center of Yakima in Washington State.

AP - Tony Overman

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

Russia is preparing to launch the next stage of its offensive in Ukraine: this is what a Ukrainian military official said after the visit to Russian soldiers by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Moscow's next objectives are known: to seize Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two main cities of Donbass still under Ukrainian control.

To face this new offensive, the armed forces of Ukraine have a new asset: the Himars rocket launchers provided by the United States, a formidable artillery system for its characteristics. 

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Since mid-June, Ukraine has destroyed with the Himars precision artillery system more than 20 important Russian ammunition depots and command posts previously too far from the front line to be reached by traditional projectiles.

“ 

 ,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. 

Nor are these new weapons a silver bullet, warn experts, who point out that it will take more weapons and radar systems to be used in conjunction to defeat the Russians.

A gain in precision

The Himars, for "M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System" are multiple rocket launchers mounted on light armours, therefore mobile, firing GPS-guided ammunition with a range of approximately 80 kilometers.

Unlike the artillery used so far by both sides in this war, they can hit a precise target, so be used sparingly and reliably.

In this file photo taken March 6, 2022, US servicemen stand near an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during the world's premier defense show in Saudi Arabia, north of the capital Riyadh.

AFP - DO NURELDINE

The Ukrainian army now has 12 launchers, which can be equipped with six projectiles at the same time, and hundreds of ammunition.

In addition to their accuracy, these rockets fly fast and low enough to prevent Russian air defenses from easily intercepting them.

And the high mobility of launchers makes them difficult to target.

The characteristics of the Himars described by General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN

Daniel Vallot

Ukraine uses these weapons against the weak points of the Russian army: logistics.

The Russian army has saturation artillery, to densely pound the Ukrainian front and push it back, explains General Dominique Trinquand, military expert, former head of the French military mission to the UN, at the microphone of our journalist

.

But that requires a lot of shells, which have to be routed: " 

 »

A longer reach

Faced with the 80 kilometer range of the Himars, the Russian army will eventually disperse its munitions and move them away from the front, analysts say, but this will complicate their logistics.

" 

 ," said Christopher Dougherty, a military analyst at the Center for New American Security think tank, based in Washington.

However, Russian military trucks have become scarce since the beginning of the war.

The continuation of the Russian plan is the progression with substantial artillery support and therefore if they have to change the plan, it will take a little more time, especially since they have major problems in the field of human resources. : they fail to replace soldiers who have been killed or wounded in battle.

This can be seen in the various measures that President Putin has announced.

General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN

Daniel Vallot

At the same time, kyiv is trying to convince Washington to supply it with ATACMS missiles, compatible with Himars launchers and with a range of 300 kilometres.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a Ukrainian official, confirmed on Wednesday July 13 “ 

 ”.

The White House refuses to do so for the moment, worried about a possible use to strike targets on Russian territory, which could, according to the American administration, involve the United States and NATO in the war.

(And with AFP)

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• Ukraine

• Russia

• Volodymyr Zelensky

• United States