Earlier this month it was revealed that the latest American military aid package for Ukraine includes a single HIMARS missile system, alongside many other weapons. The total worth of this package is around 100 million dollars. Other weapons do not raise that many questions, but why is the US sending only one HIMARS? Is it somehow special?
HIMARS is a highly universal and highly mobile system, which helped the defenders of Ukraine to stretch the Russian lines of logistics. Image credit: Sgt. Jacob Harrer via Wikimedia
Ukraine is operating a number of HIMARS and equivalent systems. In fact, some experts say that while more would be better, the HIMARS Ukraine already has is plentiful to cover the entire length of the enormous frontline.
Of course, these systems get damaged, break down, and are put out of service in other ways. However, the US is sending only one now with additional ammunition.
Military expert Pavel Narozhny believes that this valuable addition to the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not an ordinary HIMARS launcher. “Most likely, this HIMARS came with something new,” Narozhny emphasized. But what could it be?
The obvious version is the ATACMS. Ukraine is already using ATACMS missiles and they are fully compatible with the HIMARS and M270 launchers. However, they do have different modules and the missile itself is significantly larger than the standard GMLRS.
HIMARS normally can fire up to 6 GMLRS missiles in a quick succession, while ATACMS is big enough to take all the space on top of the HIMARS chassis. Because of this different launch module, it is possible that the US is sending one HIMARS specifically prepared for ATACMS operations.
However, Pavel Narozhny has another guess. It is known from open sources that the Pentagon has contracted Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) weapons. It is basically a glide bomb, mated to a M26 rocket. It can be launched from HIMARS and M270 systems. The range of the GLSDB is reported to be over 150 kilometres.
“The main point is that it is very cheap. I think we are talking about 100 thousand dollars approximately. The GMLRS rocket that we now use costs 170–180 thousand dollars,” Narozhny noted. GLSDB might not be as powerful, but it has a longer range and should be highly accurate. GLSDB was developed by Boeing and the Saab Group.
GLSDB is a ground-launched glide bomb with a range of around 150 km. Image credit: USAF via Wikimedia
What will Ukraine do with a large amount of GLSDBs? Well, their longer range will be useful to attack Russian routes of logistics, eventually complicating the situation at the frontlines. However, the effectiveness of this weapon in Ukraine would have to be tested and would depend on the number of munitions Ukraine would actually get. One special HIMARS wouldn’t do much.
And we don’t know for sure if that’s what the US is sending. It could be that the one single HIMARS is just a replacement for a broken system.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: Charter97.org, Wikipedia