The Pentagon announced its readiness to send ATACMS missiles to Ukraine
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The Pentagon is ready to send Ukraine some long-range ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions after US President Joe Biden approved the transfer. About this Bloomberg reported Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Logistics Doug Bush.
“We are ready when and if the president decides to do this,” Bush said.
According to Bush, the missiles that the United States plans to send to Ukraine have already been selected. ATACMS missiles could be launched from the same launchers that Ukraine already uses to launch GPS-guided missiles in batches of six at a time. Busch added that the installation’s conversion requires “not that significant” changes – some cables and software.
The agency notes that over the past few months, US lawmakers have urged Biden to send ATACMS to Ukraine. Sources previously said that the US President agreed and announced this decision to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during the latter’s visit to Washington in September.
On September 23, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper, citing sources wrote, that the United States did not publicly announce the sending of ATACMS to Ukraine so as not to “warn” Russian forces. The missiles, according to the newspaper, could be sent to Ukraine “in the near future.”
ATACMS weighs about 2 tons, the cost of one guided missile is about $1.5 million. Their firing range reaches 300 km, such missiles can be launched using HIMARS MLRS, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces already have at their disposal.
Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv. The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on Washington’s plans to transfer long-range missiles to Kyiv, stated that the United States, with the help of Ukraine, is waging a war against Russia.
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