“Now is the time,” one of the US officials said as Ukraine’s forces are attempting to pierce Russian lines just south of the city of Orikhiv in an attempt to divide Russian forces and put its main supply lines under threat. ATACMS or GMLRS with this capability would not only boost Ukrainian morale but deliver a needed tactical punch to the fight, the official said.
The US plan is to include the grenade-packed weapons in an upcoming draw from US stockpiles of munitions, according to the four US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the plan.
At present Ukraine has only one US-furnished cluster munitions, the 155mm rounds that were announced in July.
The new weapons would augment Ukraine’s current 72km range GMLRS rounds, a version that blasts out more than 100,000 sharp tungsten fragments, but not bomblets.
Made by Lockheed Martin, ATACMS come in several versions some of which can fly four times GMLRS’ range, and their use could reset battlefield calculus.
The Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the administration to take from US stocks and ship to Ukraine has proven to be the fastest way – days or weeks – to get armaments to Ukraine.
In the interim period – ahead of the ATACMS arrival – necessary software upgrades could be performed on launchers including the M270 and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) which Kyiv has been using on the battlefield, two of the officials said.
But because no final decision had been made, it was unclear if the weapons would be included in the next PDA. The weapons could come in a PDA as soon as this week, around a Sep 19 meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
President Joe Biden may ultimately decide against, or delay a decision on the transfer.
Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries. Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed onto the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans production, stockpiling, use and transfer of the weapons.
They typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends.
Washington has committed more than US$40 billion in military assistance to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour on Feb 24, 2022.
For all the latest world News Click Here
