Last month the Ukrainian army acquired the advanced M142 High Mobility Multiple Launch Rocket System, nicknamed HIMARS, from the United States. After weeks of training, the Ukrainian army has put at least one HIMARS into combat, and according to the Washington Post , these multiple rocket launchers have achieved some results.
The person in charge of operating this HIMARS has the call sign Kuzia. He said in an interview: "We have achieved 6 results." Although, there are only 3 small black skull marks printed with the results on the car body. Kuzia explained that it was because he hadn't had time to paint the other three.
Similar to the habits of Western soldiers, Ukrainian soldiers also posted a poster of a sexy beauty in the cab of this HIMARS. In Western armies, this behavior is seen as one of the ways soldiers relieve stress on the battlefield.
In terms of task assignment, Kuzya and his comrades said that so far, their targets have been concentrated on Russian command posts and weapons storage warehouses.
According to Ukrainian officials, the new Western-aided weaponry is already having an impact on the battlefield - Ukrainian reports claim that shelling of French Caesar self-propelled howitzers stationed in the port city of Odessa forced the Russians Withdrew from the strategically important Snake Island in the Black Sea on Thursday.
Russia has not confirmed this statement. Russia’s explanation for the evacuation from Snake Island is out of humanitarian goodwill and to confirm to the world that it will not hinder Ukraine’s political determination to export food and other agricultural products.
Regarding the performance and operation of HIMARS. The four car groups expressed their approval. A gunner whose call sign was Moroz said, in comparison, the weapons we used before were much more troublesome. Moroz means "frost".
Moroz said that the HIMARS system gives them more peace of mind. When using satellite-guided precision-guided rockets to attack urban targets, they can avoid harming civilians and only destroy military targets.
Moroz said: "I don't doubt what we will hit, I know the rocket will hit the target because it is guided by satellites"
Before the arrival of HIMARS, the Ukrainian army used the Uragan produced in the Soviet era, which It is a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher system with a range of about a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher and a maximum range of about 32 kilometers. The strike error of this rocket launcher is relatively large, reaching 800 meters. However, the rocket launched by HIMARS can be guided by satellites and deviate from the target by less than 1 meter, with very high accuracy.
As a security measure, the artillery team members identified each other only by their call signs. Because these systems are considered the primary targets of the Russians, even the families of these small team members do not know that they work together or the content of their work. To avoid being destroyed, the team kept HIMARS constantly on the move, as staying in one place for too long could lead to its location being discovered.
Most transfer operations occur at night. After each salvo is completed, they need to start evacuating within 2 minutes, because the Russian army has the ability to quickly counterattack. The probability of being destroyed increases exponentially with each additional second. HIMARS's launcher can be loaded with six rockets at a time and can move at a speed of more than 90 kilometers per hour during evacuation.
Before the Ukrainian HIMARS artillery team officially installed the HIMARS rocket launcher, it was trained by American instructors in a secret base for two weeks in order to quickly familiarize the personnel with the new equipment. The Ukrainian army requires instructors to provide hands-on teaching to trainee soldiers.
HIMARS vehicle-mounted computer system is all in English. During the training, specialized translators carefully explained the meaning of each button - all of which were recorded in the notebook carried by Ukraine, but some complex vocabulary still needs to be translated using Google Translate explain.
Kuzya said he hopes the Ukrainian army will have 50 HIMARS systems, so that four HIMARS rocket launchers can be deployed in each direction along the vast front along the entire eastern border.
The commander of the Ukrainian artillery force could not help but complain during the interview: "I think it took too long to bring them here. If they had come here earlier, I think we could have ended this war as soon as possible."
Although, The commander's account is questionable. However, the U.S. highly mobile multiple launch rocket system HIMARS has always been considered one of the most advanced and efficient rocket artillery systems in the world. In terms of scope of damage, it indeed exceeds any equipment in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
