A U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) launches ordnance during RED FLAG-Alaska 21-1 at Fort Greely, Alaska, Oct. 22, 2020. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Beaux Hebert)
Ukraine has received M142 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers from the US, the country’s defense minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, announced on June 23.
“HIMARS have arrived to Ukraine. Thank you to my colleague and friend Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools! Summer will be hot for Russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them,” the minister said on Twitter.
Reznikov didn’t disclose how many launchers have arrived in Ukraine. Early on in June, the US said that it would supply at least four launchers to Kiev forces.
The HIMARS, which stands for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, can be armed with a pod of six M30/M31 series GMLRS rockets or a single ATACMS tactical ballistic missile. Ukraine will only receive GMLRS rockets, which have a range of more than 70 kilometers. GMLRS rockets are guided by a GPS-aided inertial navigation system.
Ukraine will soon receive other systems that can fire GMLRS rockets. The UK will provide three M270B1 MRLS launchers, while Germany will supply three M270A1 MARS II launchers. These systems are expected to arrive shortly in Ukraine.
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While Ukraine have only now confirmed the arrival of the first HIMARS launchers, the use of the system has been already reported twice. On June 20, the system was allegedly used by Kiev forces to shell residential areas in the city of Donetsk, as well as in another failed attack on Russian forces holding Snake Island.
It’s worth noting that Russia has already warned Ukraine that it will respond to any attack on its territory with Western-supplied weapons like the HIMARS by destroyed “decision making centers” in Kiev and other areas. Washington said that Kiev has promised not to use the rocket system against Russia’s territory. However, Ukrainian officials made many false promises to their backers in the past.
