ATACM Long Range Missile is Unstoppable

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This is the US Army’s Tactical Missile System that can yeet missiles 300 kilometers (190 miles) within a margin of error of give or take 10 meters. You’re not placing warheads on foreheads, you're choosing which strand of hair you want to hit on the enemy's dome. So why is the ATACM so hot right now? Major news outlets reported that on September 21st, President Biden promised a small number of ATACM missiles to Ukrainian President Zelensky in a closed door summit at the White House. No official statement has confirmed the decision and no ATACMS are included in the latest $325 million dollar security assistance package, at least four US officials speaking anonymously leaked the news to the press.

Written by: Chris Cappy & Diego Aceituno

Edited by: Maksym

If true, the decision to send the long range ATACM missiles ends over a year of the Ukrainian government asking for this capability. It’s a major reversal of American policy because until now, the US had refused to send ATACMs to Ukraine, citing a variety of reasons from the weapon’s long range would allow strikes into Russian territory, along with concerns that the US didn’t have enough to send without seriously compromising its ability to fend off other threats like China. At least China doesn’t get triggered in the comments section when I say something redundant like ATACM missile.

How and why was this system developed? Are defense analysts correct that the US might not have enough missiles to handle emerging threats in the coming years? And why is the US government changing its mind about sending the weapon to Ukraine after over a year of denials? I’m your average infantryman @cappyarmy on instagram let's find out.

Background

Take a look at the huge missile loaded into the ATACM. That missile weighs 227 kilograms or 500 lbs. The M270’s conventional loadout has two pods with six missiles each, but at 13 feet in length and 22 inches in diameter, the MGM-140 takes up an entire pod by itself, meaning an M270 can only carry two ATACMS instead of 6 regular rocket artillery. It’s so big that when it's a unitary bomb like this it has a kill radius of about 262 feet or 80 meters. According to my average infantryman math that’s 60% larger than a 155mm artillery shell. The ATACM was first made famous during Operation Desert Storm, its a ground-launched, guided ballistic missile that can be fired from either the M270 MLRS or M142 HIMARS launch vehicles. The Washington Post reported that they estimated the US army had 1,486 ATACMS in its arsenal. 364 are armed with cluster munitions and the rest with unitary bombs. How accurate those numbers are I’m not sure because The Pentagon won’t officially release the exact number it has in inventory for national security reasons. They sound accurate when you consider the US actually terminated the ATACMS program in 2007 because the costs were too high to justify it at the time. Remember this was back when the focus of the US military was now on counterinsurgency warfare and the ATACM had limited use there. This meant no new ATACMS missiles were added to the US inventory during that time. However the “ Service Life Extension Program” did refurbish older missiles into current operational versions. That didn’t start until 2016 renewed missiles didnt reach the US until 2018. Around 4,000 ATACMS missiles of various types were produced by Lockheed-Martin in total. Minus the 600 that were fired in Iraq. But that doesn’t mean the US has 3,400 left over because Missiles systems degrade over time. The chemical compounds in rocket motors, explosives, hydraulic systems get old and become ineffective over time. Its reported shelf life is ten years so that could mean the only operational missiles the US Army has might only be whatever has been refurbished and delivered by Lockheed-Martin since 2018 which does make 1,486 sound right.

#WAR #ARMY #MILITARY

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