As Kyiv pressed for longer range ATACMS, the Pentagon denied their need and says there really aren’t enough to go around.
Ukrainian leadership has long been pressing for long range ATACMS missiles from the U.S., even as British Storm Shadows and French SCALP long range cruise missiles are being delivered. “Without long-range weapons, it is difficult not only to carry out an offensive mission but also to conduct a defensive operation,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said at a July 7 news conference in Prague.
The Pentagon, however, is more concerned about the minefields limiting Ukraine’s progress in the counteroffensive. “The problem is not a hundred kilometers away, it’s one kilometer in front of them with the minefields” the Russians have laid, along with rows of trenches and tank traps, in defensive lines along the 600-mile front line, Colin Kahl, the pentagon’s former undersecretary for policy said.
These ATACMS are also in very limited quantity, with estimates that only 4000 have been produced since initial start of production, with 500 coming out each year, all destined for foreign exports. The Pentagon says that if they were to provide the hundreds of missiles that Ukraine has requested, they would significantly degrade their own capabilities to respond to rising threats.
Ukrainian leadership has long been pressing for long range ATACMS missiles from the U.S., even as British Storm Shadows and French SCALP long range cruise missiles are being delivered. “Without long-range weapons, it is difficult not only to carry out an offensive mission but also to conduct a defensive operation,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said at a July 7 news conference in Prague.
The Pentagon, however, is more concerned about the minefields limiting Ukraine’s progress in the counteroffensive. “The problem is not a hundred kilometers away, it’s one kilometer in front of them with the minefields” the Russians have laid, along with rows of trenches and tank traps, in defensive lines along the 600-mile front line, Colin Kahl, the pentagon’s former undersecretary for policy said.
These ATACMS are also in very limited quantity, with estimates that only 4000 have been produced since initial start of production, with 500 coming out each year, all destined for foreign exports. The Pentagon says that if they were to provide the hundreds of missiles that Ukraine has requested, they would significantly degrade their own capabilities to respond to rising threats.
