ATACMS: The Himars Missile Upgrade Ukraine Desperately Wants | WSJ Equipped

As Ukraine’s military struggles to restock its long-range missiles, it’s relying on foreign supplies, like the U.K.’s Storm Shadow missiles. On Friday, President Biden agreed to provide a limited supply of the Army Tactical Missile System or ATACMS to Ukrainian forces. These missiles are equipped with a 500-lb class fragmentation warhead and have a max range of about 190 miles.

WSJ explains how ATACMS could speed up Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia and why the U.S. was initially hesitant to send the weapons.

0:00 U.S. to send Ukraine ATACMS missiles
0:49 How it’s fired
2:20 How it moves
3:51 How it lands
5:45 Geopolitical battle

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[Fellolkek]

Whoever was doing that missle animation was having a lot fun

[Vanom.]

I love when he said "Gravity's Rainbow" and did the waving hand motion they edited a missile arcing over his hand each time 😂

[bdnhwss]

Thanks from all Ukrainians for Atacms missiles ❤🎉❤

[simonphoenix]

one of the worst and best things to happen is how war has become increasingly longer ranged. 200 years ago hitting something a mile away was about as far as you could get. then it suddenly increased to tens of miles as artillery came about, and people started dying without ever seeing who was attacking them. now its even crazier. you can't get out of range anywhere on the battlefield. Even people in cities far behind the front aren't safe. On one hand this has resulted in battlefields becoming more dispersed and fewer mass loss of lives, but it also means more civilian casualties and prolonged wars that constantly kill people at a lower level.

[andyo]

Small-correction. Storm Shadows effective range is 340 miles. The UK limits/restricts this for the export versions, however it could send the full-fat model if it chooses. Additionally, Storm Shadow is a stealth-missile that navigates an extremely-low altitude, non-predictable flight-path. It is near-impossible for Russian Air-Defense systems (including S-400) to intercept. It does not need to travel fast if it cannot be tracked/locked onto. The only disadvantage of Storm Shadow is that it is air-launched, and Ukraine has a limited number of compatible airframes.

[vzzzbvzzzb]

The most important thing about ATACMS is the ground launch capability which provides surprise attack on enemy's target. The air launch cruise missiles, while very effectively must be launched by aircrafts from certain airfields, so the enemy's spies can give early warning of an impending attack so the enemy's air defense can go on high alert. With ATACMS, the enemy's air defense must be on high alert ALL THE TIME, and thus their effectiveness decreased. This is pyschological warfare which will degrade the defense, especially after the first successful attack....for, who can stay alert 24hours per day.!!

[desther]

HIMARS is truly a game changing weapon.

[ThePisikak]

WSJ, great work. Especially against the background of your silence about the results of the Ukrainian counterattack.

[davidb]

Kudos to the graphics team that gave us a rambunctious puppy missile representation.

[seitavw]

Turns out the answer to Ukraine's weapons requests (Himars, Abrams, f16s, Atacms) is not yes or no but "eventually"

[Zaaxun]

I think the ATACMS also maneuvers as it nears the target, changing trajectory making it even harder to hit.

[habbyhouse]

Love the short and simple explanation.

[ninjapants]

I remember speaking to some troops stationed in Afghanistan about going after some high-value targets who were stationed in a villiage, the targets moved to another building just before the strike hit and they could adjust it at the last second. Apparently it went through the window of the building into the room where these guys were sipping tea, not realizing that was the last drink of their lives. Pretty remarkable platform.

[unelectedleader]

The US doesn’t need these anymore anyway. It’s been replaced, and now the US has ground launched SM-6 and ground launched tomahawks again already as of last year

[robchandler]

Really informative and well produced piece! Thanks

[AndreVanDiggelen-wlfx]

"Junk drawer" Thats hilarious 😂

[JR-playlists]

Maybe we should let Ukraine "test" the Prisim system for a while so we don't have to "waste" ammo on testing false targets

[girishp]

The latest ' Game Changer ' after Switch blade drones, M - 777, Leopard Tank, 😂

[brandonhenderson]

Can we agree the men operating himars are doing a stellar job

[romani]

Had they provided the atacms 5 months ago, there wouldn't be the Surovikin line in place and Ukrainians would be nearing the sea of Azov by now. Easing the grain corridor problem (grain surplus in Europe) and heading towards the end of war. Will we see any escalation after Ukraine gets atacms from Russian side like USA feared. Obviously not. This delay is crazy stupid.