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Exhale: US Sending ATACMs to Ukraine... And Then Some [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-09-22
For the next 24 hours or so NAFO can stop clutching pearls and rending garments as President Joe Biden has approved sending ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. This immediately puts every delicious target in the Sea Of Azov / Crimea region in range. Although it has not yet been officially announced the news has been validated by sources starting with NBC News and now including FOX, Wall Street Journal and others.
The initial tranche is described as very small and limited to a cluster bomb version, however within hours of the first reports new “sources” are claiming a second tranche is already being readied. This might imply provision of different payloads with more “bridge-buster” potential. Expect a lot more smoke screens around the Kerch Bridge in the future. The US and it’s allies have enough of these missiles in Europe to supply UKR practically overnight.
Scuttlebutt is that POTUS decided to release these hounds right before his meeting with Zelensky yesterday, not during or after. Reasoning has also been spun that the Pentagon did not want to limit HIMARS launch capacity during the summer counter offensive. A HIMARS launcher can only accomodate 1 ATACMS tube at a time versus 6 regular munitions. It can also be assumed that the US Department of Defense wanted to keep the limited production to themselves, hoping Boeing’s small diameter missile program would start production sooner than later.
This culminates a year-long campaign by pro-Ukraine advocates to provide a high capacity, medium range ballistic weapon capable of taking out targets as far as 190 miles. Similar campaigns have proceeded the release of main battle tanks such as the Abrams and the jet fighter F-16. Both of those announcements resulted in numerous European countries pledging other types from their supplies such as the Leopard 2 and the Challenger 2 which are both in theater while the American Abrams is only expected in Ukraine by October. Ukraine won’t have pilots for F-16s until the end of the year at the earliest but the freshest rumors this week have French Mirage jets already in process to transfer with pilots in training.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/22/2194867/-Exhale-US-Sending-ATACAMs-to-Ukraine-And-Then-Some
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