America's vital missile tech leaves Ukraine in limbo
With varying degrees of difficulty, European countries can fill the gap left by the United States in supporting Ukraine. However, one key weapons system for Ukraine is only available in the USA.
Europe, despite increasing the production of artillery shells, cannot supply Ukraine with ballistic missiles similar to the American MGM-140 ATACMS. They do not possess them, and developing identical systems, even with assured funding and political will, will take years. The only option left is logistical support for Ukraine, which has developed its ballistic missiles known as Grom/Grom-2.
Only a few medium-range anti-aircraft systems produced by a handful of countries can protect against ballistic missiles. In Russia, these are the S-300/400 systems, and in Europe, a mix of American Patriot batteries and European SAMP/T systems.
However, they are scarce, and a battery can only provide protection for up to 25 miles from the launcher, significantly limiting the number of protected targets. Moreover, an air defence system can be overwhelmed by a mass attack of several or more missiles approaching from different directions. This is evidenced by instances of missile penetrations in the war in Ukraine or Iranian missile attacks on Israel.
MGM-140 ATACMS missiles — a powerful weapon from the USA greatly missed by Ukraine
Ukraine has successfully used American MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles, developed in the 1990s. So far, the Ukrainians have focused on using M39 missiles, which have a range of 100 miles and contain a cluster warhead with 950 M74 APAM bomblets. These missiles have been used to attack S-300/400 system batteries and training grounds, among other targets.
According to some sources, the Ukrainians were also supposed to receive M39A1 versions with a range of up to 186 miles. This was achieved by increasing the fuel supply at the expense of the warhead and reducing the load of bomblets to 300. To maintain effectiveness, improvements were made to the guidance system, which includes a satellite navigation module in addition to inertial navigation.
In addition to the cluster warhead, MGM-140 ATACMS missiles were also available in M48, M57, or M57E1 variants with a heavy fragmentation-high explosive WAU-23/B warhead weighing about 440 pounds, designed to destroy fortified structures.
The MGM-140 ATACMS missiles are distinguished by their ability to reach Mach 3 at approximately 2,300 mph. Such high speeds combined with a short range make it challenging for Russian anti-ballistic systems, even the latest models like the S-400 Triumf, to intercept them.
