New U.S. Guided Rockets Strengthen Ukraine’s Hand Against Russia
Himars can reach twice as far behind enemy lines; ‘a stick in the wheel’ of Moscow’s war effort
By Stephen Kalin
Updated July 1, 2022 2:08 pm ET
SLOVYANKA, Ukraine—American-supplied high-tech rocket launchers have begun arriving on the front line in eastern Ukraine. Already they are shifting the balance of power in the fierce artillery duel being fought with Russian forces, Ukrainian officers say.
For more than a month, a Russian field headquarters not far from here was frustratingly beyond the range of Lt. Valentyn Koval’s Soviet-era artillery battery, he said. That changed last week, when Lt. Koval’s unit got a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars.
Under cover of darkness, his unit drove the truck-mounted rocket launcher into position, punched in coordinates and pressed the launch button. Six 200-pound rockets slammed into the Russian position, largely destroying it, said Lt. Koval, who commands two Himars launchers.
The Russian base was one of about 10 high-value positions Lt. Koval says Ukraine has hit in the two weeks since taking charge of the systems, the most sophisticated weaponry Washington has supplied to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.
Ukrainian soldiers operating Himars say they have doubled their reach into Russian-held territory with greater precision and less risk to themselves. Kyiv officials say such weaponry is their best hope to defeat the Russians in what has become a grueling war of attrition.
“These Himars are very powerful. They allow us as much as possible to put a stick in their wheel,” 22-year-old Lt. Koval said about the Russian forces. “It’s a huge advantage for us. Russia has nothing comparable.”
Four Himars launchers were delivered in June and four more are expected by mid-July. On Thursday, President Biden said Ukraine would receive additional batteries from other countries and more ammunition from the U.S. as part of a new $800 million assistance package.
Washington was initially reluctant to provide Himars, fearing such a move could cause Moscow to retaliate against the U.S. or its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The rockets have roughly twice the range of the M777 howitzers that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine.
“They can hit Russian systems with them,” said Sam Cranny-Evans, a research analyst at the Royal United Service Institute think tank in London. A lot will depend on the quality of the Ukrainians’ intelligence and reconnaissance of Russian targets, he added, but Moscow will be looking to destroy the Himars so that they no longer pose a threat.
Ukrainian officials have argued that they need longer-range artillery to offset the Russian military’s enormous firepower.
The U.S. has declined to provide Ukraine with longer-range rockets that can be fired by the Himars at targets up to 185 miles away.
Russian officials have sharply criticized the U.S. decision to supply Himars, saying Washington is pouring fuel on the fire and threatening to respond if the systems are used to target Russian territory.
For the Ukrainian operators, Himars provide an opportunity to level the playing field against an enemy that has more men and more guns. The U.S. and its Western allies had previously focused on providing 155mm howitzers, with range comparable to Russian systems, to replace Ukraine’s own Soviet-era stock.
Each Himars fires six precision-guided rockets with a range of up to 48 miles, giving the Ukrainians the ability to strike Russian command posts, ammunition and fuel depots, as well as troop concentrations in rear areas.
Soviet-designed Smerch and Uragan long-range multiple-launch systems are imprecise and time-consuming to use, relying on analog instruments for targeting. The systems are unarmored, difficult to maneuver and often break down, exposing operators to risk of counterattack.
Himars are smaller and easier to maneuver, helping them hide from enemy reconnaissance. Crews work inside an armored cabin. And they are fast: once parked, they can begin launching rockets within two or three minutes and move again 20 seconds after firing.
“You press three buttons. A few seconds and the system is ready to shoot,” said Lt. Koval. “I don’t have enough fingers to count all the advantages of Himars.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on June 23 that the first Himars had arrived. “Summer will be hot for russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them,” he wrote on Twitter.
The following day, Lt. Koval and his men—who received three weeks of training in May from American instructors at a base in Germany—set to work.
Operating at night to avoid detection by Russian drones, Lt. Koval directed each system to a different launch point in a coordinated attack with 24 rockets on Russian positions. Operators like Pvt. Dmytro Kovalenko, 18 years old, put coordinates into a digital system that uses satellites to direct strikes and then pressed the launch button.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-u-s...ia-11656698614
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