Ukraine launched ATACMS missiles at Russian forces on Tuesday, marking the first time that the U.S-provided weapons have been used in the conflict in Ukraine.
A small number of the missiles have been secretly sent to Ukraine in recent days, where they will augment Kyiv’s capability to carry out long-range strikes at Russian forces during an important stage of its counteroffensive, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine has long sought ATACMS, a surface-to-surface missile that can strike well behind Russian lines and that can be fired by the Himars, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers, the U.S. has provided the country.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian military’s communication department said on the Telegram messaging app that it “made well-aimed strikes on enemy airfields and helicopters near the temporarily occupied Luhansk and Berdyansk.”
The ATACMS models that were provided have a range of about 100 miles.
The U.S. decision to send the ATACMS, which stands for the Army Tactical Missile System, has been long in the making. Ukraine repeatedly said the missiles were essential to its war plan, giving it the range it needed to strike targets behind the front lines in Russian-held Ukrainian territory.
loops ( @loops@beehaw.org ) English13•11 months ago100 miles = 160.9344 km
bedrooms ( @bedrooms@kbin.social ) 13•11 months agoI always read ATACMS as attack missiles. So it feels weird whenever I read “ATACMS missiles” because it’s then “Attack missiles missiles”. Actually, it officially stands for MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). So it’s in fact ATAC Missile System missiles.
Kalothar ( @Kalothar@lemmy.ca ) 8•11 months agoHmm, I like to read it as attac’ems, like a little lethal snack attack.
loops ( @loops@beehaw.org ) English3•11 months agogotta attac em’ all
Big_Boss_77 ( @Big_Boss_77@kbin.social ) 6•11 months agoThis comment was a trip lmao it’s like you live in my brain.
AllNewTypeFace ( @AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space ) 9•11 months agoGiven that those cost about a million each, I hope they hit some juicy targets. Ideally a meeting of top brass, or at least some of the Russian military’s least dispensable aircraft.
https://sopuli.xyz/post/4775539
In this video you can see several helicopters and an ammo warehouse burning
AllNewTypeFace ( @AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space ) 9•11 months agoParty time!
loops ( @loops@beehaw.org ) English4•11 months ago🥳 🎊 🪩
Zoidsberg ( @Zoidsberg@lemmy.ca ) 1•11 months agoWhy is Streamable so terrible on my phone? No fullscreen or am I just old? I get like one square inch of video.
That’s smaller than it should be, but if you click on the video while it’s playing, a fullscreen button should appear.
awwwyissss ( @awwwyissss@lemm.ee ) 5•11 months agoThey probably spent about two million to destroy them 200 million worth of helicopters and other stuff. Exceptional ROI even before you consider that the Kremlin will struggle to replace these vehicles and personnel.
theodewere ( @theodewere@kbin.social ) 5•11 months agofrom the wiki:
It carries the 500-pound (230 kg) WDU-18/B penetrating high explosive blast fragmentation warhead of the US Navy’s Harpoon anti-ship missile
in addition to the great range on the missile, that warhead also has a nice broad scope of usefulness… interesting that the first application was against an airfield…
This is the version they used
MGM-140A ATACMS Block I
Original model with 165 km range, inertial navigation and 950 M74 anti-personnel and anti-materiel (APAM) grenades.
theodewere ( @theodewere@kbin.social ) 2•11 months agothat makes more sense, thank you… i wonder if they have any of the M48s available… i guess the Russian Navy will be the first to know…
crispy_kilt ( @crispy_kilt@feddit.de ) 3•11 months agoNice.
ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 ( @Emperor@feddit.uk ) English3•11 months agoWeapon acronyms have got boring recently.
It’s pronounced Attack’ems
ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 ( @Emperor@feddit.uk ) English7•11 months agoWell now I feel silly!