Not long after the HIMARS (HIMARS High Mobility Multiple Rocket Launcher System) combat team of the Ukrainian army disclosed its combat experience. News came from Russia. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov, announced in a battle report on July 6 that the Russian army destroyed two US-made HIMARS high-mobility multiple rocket launchers in the territory of Donetsk (DPR). .
Konashenkov said, "In the settlement area of Malotanovka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian army used high-precision air-launched missiles to destroy two American-made HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and two ammunition depot . "The Ukrainian side responded that it was false news
Previously, some German media lamented that the Russians had captured the French Caesar self-propelled artillery and their PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer . Now that the US-made HIMARS has been destroyed, the Russian army's mission of "collecting" Western main battle equipment models has taken another step forward.
Alexey Arestovich, advisor to the Ukrainian President’s Office, mentioned in an interview that the front line of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has become an artillery battle. According to him, the supply of Western weapons by NATO to the Ukrainian Armed Forces played a key role in the "turning point" of the situation.
One of the key points pointed out by Arestovich is the excellent performance of the US-aided HIMARS multiple rocket launchers on the front line. Arestovich said that this high-precision weapon was very effective in destroying warehouses and headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces. This greatly reduced the intensity of artillery use by the Ukrainian army. At the same time, Arestovich also added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces currently have only four such weapon systems. He mentioned that Ukraine will need 50 HIMARS MRLS multiple rocket launcher systems. Prior to this, Ukrainian President Zelensky and military leaders called HIMARS multiple rocket launchers a weapon that "can turn the tide of the war and change the rules of the battlefield." The Biden administration's cautious performance in providing this weapon to Ukraine is enough to illustrate its importance in the American mind.
According to a report issued by the Ukrainian intelligence agency on the evening of April 22-23, Ukrainian armed forces attacked Russian army positions near Novobachmutka in the Donetsk region. According to a Ukrainian news website, the report stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces used the latest MLRS rocket launchers provided by partner countries, and also included a photo of a US M270 multiple rocket launcher being launched. Perhaps these Western multiple rocket launchers have arrived in Ukraine and are being used by the Ukrainian General Intelligence Service.
In June this year, the United States announced the delivery of the M142 HIMARS wheeled multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) to Ukraine. The UK also announced the delivery of M270 tracked MRLS multiple rocket launchers, also made in the United States, to Ukraine.
The Biden administration has stated that all eight HIMARS multiple rocket launchers will be delivered to Ukraine by mid-July, and four of them have already begun participating in combat. According to public information, the UK has delivered 12 M270 multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine so far.
It is worth noting that Poland has also issued a request to the United States to purchase a large number of M270 MLRS. A large part of this shipment is likely to be exported to Ukraine again.
Western countries have conditions for providing multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine. Ukraine cannot use HIMARS or other weapons provided to it to attack targets located in Russia, that is, it cannot attack Russian territory. According to Ukrainian media reports, the country received HIMARS without long-range munitions. However, this statement is problematic. The West does not have a complete supervision mechanism on how Ukraine uses these weapons.
227mm HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system uses a 5-ton FMTV wheeled chassis, while the M270 MLRS is installed on an American Bradley crawler base; in fact, MLRS is a heavy-duty version of HIMARS.
Both rocket launchers use the same ammunition. The first is the MFOM series 227mm rockets, which are divided into unguided and guided types. Range varies from 40 to 80 kilometers.
The second is AFOM (Army TACMS Family of Munitions - ATACMS Army Tactical Missile Family) ammunition, which includes several types of tactical ballistic missiles. The firing range of these ammunition is between 165 and 300 kilometers, and according to some reports, some models can even reach 400 kilometers. Now the issue of delivering AFOM ammunition to Ukraine remains unresolved. There is no official data on this.
Although, Ukrainian media claims that the HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system is very effective. But Russian President Putin does not care about this weapon. On June 5, Putin said: "These rocket launchers serving in the Ukrainian army are not much different from some rocket launchers developed by the former Soviet Union."
