M142 HIMARS crews told about the first results of American MLRS usage and why it's better than Russian "Uragan"
MLRS HIMARS destroyed two Russian command posts in Ukraine M142 HIMARS appeared. The Ukrainian military destroyed two command posts using an American multiple rocket launcher. After a week of use, fighters spoke about working with the new MLRS and its advantages over the Russian Uragan.
What we know
A crew member of one of the four vehicles M142 HIMARS told The Wall Street Journal about the first attack, when the Russian army headquarters in the town of Izyum in the Kharkiv region was shelled. According to intelligence, 17 Russian military personnel were killed, including two majors and a colonel.
A couple of days later M142 HIMARS were used to shell barracks with Russian troops, and the third attack involved all four rocket systems. The Ukrainian military fired 24 rockets at enemy positions. In the fourth strike, the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed an ammunition depot in the town of Zimogorye.
Another crew member of M142 HIMARS was interviewed by The Washington Post. He had previously worked on the Soviet Uragan MLRS. According to him, the American MLRS gives more freedom in choosing positions to attack. Due to the use of the satellite navigation the soldiers are not afraid of the missiles hitting a populated area. The real deviation of rockets from the target is less than 1 m.
When working with the Uragan MLRS, a drone is used for guidance, and the radius of possible deviation is up to 1 km. Another advantage of M142 HIMARS is the range of fire. The American system can hit targets at a distance of 77 km, whereas the Soviet weapons shoot only at 40 km maximum.
To avoid being hit by Russian forces, the crews of M142 HIMARS need to constantly change location. After the mission they have about 2 minutes to withdraw the MLRS. In addition, the fighter noted the complexity of the missile guidance system, which made it necessary to rewrite all the commands in a notebook that need to be entered into the computer. But sometimes you have to ask Google Translate for help.
Source: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal
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