Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges noted that refusing to move ATACMS because of its expiration date was a political move.
The United States plans to dispose of hundreds of ATACMS systems and missiles for them made by Lockheed Martin, which spends a lot of taxpayer money on it. The reason for this is that these weapons have expired, although they can still be used and, in particular, Ukraine can use them. This was reported by Newsweek.
The former special adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valeriy Zaluzhny, Daniel Rice, said that these missiles remain “very legal precision-guided cluster weapons” and can be transferred to Ukraine .
“M39s add range, accuracy and lethality, which Ukraine lacks without them,” he stressed.
Rice noted that, with sufficient numbers of M39s, Ukraine could disrupt the logistics chains supporting Russian troops in the south. They can also acquire targets in the Azov Sea region and strike key targets in Russian-occupied territory.
Much depends on how long the missiles have expired, whether they will still be usable for years after that date, said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges. Refusing to transfer ATACMS because of its expiration date was not a security decision, but a political move, he said.
Hodges added that it is not possible to reach Russian military facilities in Sevastopol with the cluster version of this missile, so Ukraine needs more ATACMS. There is no reason not to provide them, he said.
Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which specializes in defense and military analysis in the Middle East, emphasized that the key to this issue is keeping solid-fuel rocket engines in good condition. The shelf life of ATACMS may be longer than stated by the manufacturer.
Let’s remember that on the night of December 26, the ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Novocherkassk in the area of temporarily annexed Feodosia was attacked by cruise missiles.
General Hodges about the destroyed Novocherkassk: If Ukraine had a hundred more ATACMS
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.