Russia is preparing to launch the next stage of its offensive in Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian military official after the visit to Russian soldiers by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Moscow’s next objectives are known: to seize Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two main cities of Donbass still under Ukrainian control. To face this new offensive, the armed forces of Ukraine have a new asset: the Himars rocket launchers provided by the United States, a formidable artillery system for its characteristics.
Since mid-June, Ukraine has destroyed with the Himars precision artillery system more than 20 important Russian ammunition depots and command posts previously too far from the front line to be reached by traditional projectiles. ” The occupants have already been able to experience what modern artillery is. They will have no secure rear base on our lands. said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Nor are these new weapons a silver bullet, warn experts, who point out that it will take more weapons and radar systems to be used in conjunction to defeat the Russians.
A gain in precision
The Himars, for “M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System” are multiple rocket launchers mounted on light armours, therefore mobile, firing GPS-guided ammunition with a range of approximately 80 kilometers. Unlike the artillery used so far by both sides in this war, they can hit a precise target, so be used sparingly and reliably.
The Ukrainian army now has 12 launchers, which can be equipped with six projectiles at the same time, and hundreds of ammunition. In addition to their accuracy, these rockets fly fast and low enough to prevent Russian air defenses from easily intercepting them. And the high mobility of launchers makes them difficult to target.
The characteristics of the Himars described by General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN
Ukraine uses these weapons against the weak points of the Russian army: logistics. The Russian army has saturation artillery, to densely pound the Ukrainian front and push it back, explains General Dominique Trinquand, military expert, former head of the French military mission to the UN, at the microphone of our journalist Daniel Vallot. But that requires a lot of shells, which have to be routed: ” The Russian logistics system means that it is first trains that supply intermediate depots which themselves make breaks in load which pass on trucks and these trucks supply other depots as close as possible to the contacts. So when you type in where the trains arrive and unload for the trucks, you completely break the logistics system. »
A longer reach
Faced with the 80 kilometer range of the Himars, the Russian army will eventually disperse its munitions and move them away from the front, analysts say, but this will complicate their logistics. ” Every time we scatter something, then more trucks are needed to deliver the same amount (of material) to those who need it says Christopher Dougherty, a military analyst at the Washington-based Center for New American Security think tank. However, Russian military trucks have become scarce since the beginning of the war.
The continuation of the Russian plan is the progression with substantial artillery support and therefore if they have to change the plan, it will take a little more time, especially since they have big problems in the field of human resources. : they fail to replace soldiers who have been killed or wounded in battle. This can be seen in the various measures that President Putin has announced.
General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN
At the same time, kyiv is trying to convince Washington to supply it with ATACMS missiles, compatible with Himars launchers and with a range of 300 kilometres. Fedir Venislavskyi, a Ukrainian official, confirmed on Wednesday July 13 “ negotiations at all levels with US representatives regarding the need to provide us with longer range Himars ammunition “. The White House refuses to do so for the moment, worried about a possible use to strike targets on Russian territory, which could, according to the American administration, drag the United States and NATO into the war.
(And with AFP)
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