ATACMS missiles for HIMARS and M270 MLRS in Ukraine: why is it too early to celebrate
Recently a video appeared on the Internet, where HIMARS seemed to be moving on the territory of Ukraine with ATACMS missile. But there is a nuance.
What we know
The video was indeed recorded on the territory of Ukraine, but there are quite a few questions about the contents of the container. The main argument in favor of the fact that there is only one ATACMS missile in the package is the presence of an unusual plug on the container.
In fact, U.S. designers did a good job of making it impossible to distinguish from the outside the GMLRS package of rockets from the ATACMS ballistic missile. For this reason, the launch container for a multiple launch rocket system has an identical appearance regardless of the contents.
But as you know, every rule has its exceptions. In our case, this is the launcher for the Precision Strike Missile. It has a different appearance, but such a projectile is only now undergoing a series of tests in the United States.
Now back to ATACMS. In the pictures above, you can see a container for the ATACMS ballistic missile. The first picture was taken in 2020 and the second picture was taken in 2015. As you can see, the container is disguised as a package of six GMLRS rockets, but there is actually one long-range missile inside.
Thus, the manufacturer has done everything to disguise the ATACMS. And it is hard to believe that anyone would add additional elements to recognize the contents of the container. So it is very early to celebrate the arrival of ballistic missiles for HIMARS to Ukraine .
Source: Defense Express
For those who want to know more:
- A spectacular video of the $3,600,000 launch of 24 missiles from four HIMARS multiple rocket launchers has been published
- Russian soldiers were so active hiding from HIMARS that they accidentally blew up their own train of ammunition and equipment
- Ukrainian intelligence will receive 78 DJI Matrice 300 RTK drones for ₴56,160,000 - 30 drones already in Ukraine