Nick and Mike sat down for an in depth discussion of what it would take for Ukraine to achieve a true breakthrough against Russian forces. Mike also
Nick and Mike sat down for an in depth discussion of what it would take for Ukraine to achieve a true breakthrough against Russian forces. Mike also
I’ll add – this is me talking here, not Michael Kofman – that one benefit that they may have is something of a “fleet in being” effect. That is, Ukraine just having the weapon available, even if they don’t use it, means that Russia cannot make moves that would permit Ukraine to make a damaging use of ATACMS. So that means that within a 160 km radius of Ukrainian-controlled territory, there is a risk to Russia in having large concentrations of unarmored or lightly-armored high-value things, since Ukraine might drop a cluster ATACMS on it.
Also, here’s a promotional video from back when the cluster ATACMS was developed that I watched the other day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipr_hPAcR_Q
One notes that they were hitting what looks like a mocked-up helicopter base at White Sands Missile Range with the bomblets, so I expect that hitting concentrations of helicopters on the ground may be an application. I understand that Russia has a helicopter base at Berdiansk with Ka-52s to respond to Ukrainian armored vehicles; they can’t get too far from the front lines if they want to respond in a timely fashion to vehicles.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wP2rvU94ZK8
This guy highlights the helicopters present at the base and specifically comments that a cluster ATACMS would do a lot of damage here, and that he expects the helicopters to be moved elsewhere once Ukraine has cluster ATACMS available.