green light to cluster bomb; What do we know about the Atkams missile?

reported by Biden, the President of the United States to issue a license to Ukraine to use long-range weapons against Russian soil, this American newspaper in a report investigating how The performance of “Atcoms” long-range missiles has been discussed.

Ukraine has repeatedly demanded the unlimited use of these missiles, and the Biden government expressed fear of Moscow’s violent retaliatory response. , had refused to provide permission. Now it seems that this license has been issued for these types of missiles!

What do these missiles do?

Atcoms is produced in the Lockheed Martin factory It is a short-range ballistic missile that, depending on the type and model, is capable of hitting targets up to 300 km away with a warhead containing about 170 kg of explosives. Ballistic missiles travel at a much higher altitude than artillery missiles, and due to gravity, they hit the ground at an extremely high speed.

These missiles are launched by the use of “Himars mobile launchers, which the United States has provided for Ukraine, and Also, older British and German M270 rocket launchers can be fired.

Atcoms is often referred to as a “long-range” missile, which is a personal term and may not be based on facts. It is true that these missiles are more capable of reaching Russian territory than Ukrainian missiles, but they cannot travel long distances like cruise missiles or intercontinental ballistic missiles.

These missiles were produced in the 1980s with the aim of firing at valuable targets deep in the territory of the former Soviet Union from a long distance. At that time, when the US mainly used “bombing” and other unguided munitions, ATKMS was referred to as a rare guided weapon.

Pentagon today has two versions of Atcams in its arsenal; A cluster weapon and another that carries only one main charge.

Why did America wait?

The decision to arm Ukraine with ATCMs has always been a sensitive issue since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. From the very beginning of the Russian attack, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, called for weapons capable of to reach the depth of the territory of Russia and subsequently the depth of the territory of Moscow.

USA last year provided ATKMS to Ukraine, but the Biden government has refused to issue a license to use them from the border areas against Russian soil. The White House has always been worried that if Ukraine targets the depths of Russian soil with this missile, then Russian President Vladimir Putin will respond with a harsh response.

Biden said he was “trying to avoid World War III.” Some Pentagon officials have also opposed the supply of these missiles to Ukraine due to their limited production.

How will Ukraine use them?

According to reports, the Russian army prepared itself for a massive attack with about 50,000 troops on Ukrainian positions in the region Kursk and they plan to take back this region, which the Ukrainians captured a part of in August.

Ukrainians can use ATKMS to attack the camp of Russian forces, some key military equipment, logistic centers, ammunition depots and lines Supply deep in Russian soil. These attacks can help Ukraine reduce the effect of Russian counterattacks.

Biden last year by sending hundreds of Atcoms missiles agreed to Ukraine for use against Russian-controlled areas, including Crimea, but it is unclear how many of these missiles remain in Ukraine’s arsenal.

Has America used ATKMS in war?

In 1991, during the Gulf War, known as “Operation Desert Storm”, the US Army fired about 30 Atcoms missiles. did These missiles were used to attack medium-range ballistic missile launches as well as Iraqi surface-to-air missile sites. The first generation of these cluster munitions were able to travel a distance of about 160 kilometers and after reaching the targets, they released 950 microbombs.

The Pentagon later limited their use, pointing out that these cluster bombs often failed to work and resulted in the deaths and injuries of soldiers and civilians after the war ended.

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