The Washington Post says Washington is considering giving Kyiv such missiles, but not with a warhead.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is close to a decision to provide Ukraine with a version of the ATACMS long-range missile armed with cluster bombs instead of a warhead. This was stated in an article by The Washington Post published on September 22, where the publication refers to several sources.
ATACMS with cluster weapons with a range of up to 466 km, depending on the modification, could allow Ukraine to strike command posts, ammunition depots and logistics routes far behind Russian front lines and buried defense installations. Ukraine, with the support of some US lawmakers, has been demanding ATACMS since last year.
Biden eventually moved from a hard “no” to “the problem is still there.” The Pentagon is still concerned today that removing enough ATACMS from relatively small military arsenals will undermine the US Army’s readiness for other potential conflicts.
There are more ATACMS missiles with cluster weapons in Pentagon warehouses than those equipped with a “unitary” warhead.
Of the estimated 2,500 missiles, some dating back to the early 1990s, an unknown number have been converted to unitary warheads, according to 2018 US Department of Defense data.
The Pentagon declined to say how many unitary ATACMS warheads the US has in its arsenal. The missile maker, Lockheed Martin, is contracted to produce 500 ATACMS per year, all of which are sold abroad.
We remind you that the media said, citing the comments of American officials, that the United States will provide Ukraine with a small number of ATACMS ballistic missiles.
Earlier it became known that the United States has not yet transferred ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, but this issue may appear on the agenda in the future.
Source: korrespondent
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