“The HIMARS crews are just astonished by the number of missiles that have arrived in Ukraine, saying they have never seen so many.”
Russian sources have posted pictures of GMLRS wreckage in Belgorod, confirming that Ukraine has begun striking targets inside Russia with US weapons. But if these pics are legit, there might be an explanation for why Ukraine suddenly has an “astonishing number of missiles”. One of the pictures in the video linked below shows DPICM sub-munitions. The wreckage of this particular rocket appears to be an M30 DPICM GMLRS. We produced about 1,900 of these before switching to the M30A1 with tungsten shrapnel. We could give all of them to Ukraine, since they have been removed from US service. If we are willing to send the M30, we might also be willing to send the unguided, shorter range M26 DPICM rockets, which we have in much larger numbers. Likely well over 100,000.
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1796903831348957443
The M26 is a 227mm unguided artillery rocket delivered by the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) to a range of thirty-two to thirty-eight kilometers. Once it is over the target area, the rocket scatters 644 M77 submunitions into a 200 by 100 meter area.
The submunitions are also called dual purpose grenades or Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICMs). Each MLRS launcher carries twelve M26 rockets. A typical volley of six rockets would release 3,864 submunitions over an area with a 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) radius.
The M77 submunition has both antitank and antipersonnel effects. A molten slug of metal projects downward, and is intended to penetrate up to seventy-seven millimeters of armor plate. In addition, the metal body of the submunition disintegrates into fragments that can kill or wound within a four meter radius.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/08/18/cluster-munition-questions-and-answers-m26-rocket