software upgrade required?
“Ukrainian HIMARS Can’t Fire Long Range ATACMS Missiles: Report”
“HIMARS launchers sent to Ukraine are reportedly modified so they can’t use ATACMS missiles over fears about potential escalation with Russia.”
“The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that the U.S. military has transferred to Ukraine have been modified to prevent them from firing any variant of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missile, according to a new report today.
ATACMS missiles have been high on the Ukrainian military’s wishlist for some time as they would greatly extend the range the country could hold Russian targets at risk. It can also destroy larger, more heavily fortified targets across its up to nearly 200-mile range. However, American officials have so far denied those requests for fear the missiles could be used to strike targets deeper inside Russia proper, which they worry could lead the Kremlin to seek to further escalate the situation in Ukraine or to retaliate more directly against the United States and its NATO allies.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the modifications made to the 6x6 wheeled HIMARS launchers that have been delivered to Ukraine. As of November 23, the U.S. military had transferred, or was planning to transfer, a total of 38 HIMARS to the Ukrainian armed forces, according to the Pentagon. So far, these launchers, which have had a major impact on the battlefield already, fire M30A1 and M31A1 227mm precision-guided rockets, which have advanced fragmentation and unity high-explosive warheads respectively. Both types have a stated maximum range of at least approximately 43.5 miles (70 kilometers).
The full scope of the modifications made to U.S.-supplied HIMARS before their arrival in Ukraine is unclear. One possibility is that the launchers might simply have a dumbed-down version of the standard system’s software that does not have the functionality necessary to launch ATACMS. Minor physical changes could be made to prevent the missiles from working properly if loaded or prevent them from being loaded in the first place, too. However, ATACMS missiles come pre-loaded into launch canisters (often referred to as ‘pods’) that are intended to at least be dimensionally identical (and also outwardly appear the same) as those loaded with 227mm rockets, which could make physical alternations more complicated.
Without knowing for sure what has changed, it’s also not clear how readily reversible the modifications might be should U.S. policies surrounding the transfer of ATACMSs to Ukraine change in the future.“
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukrainian-himars-cant-fire-long-range-atacms-missiles-report
“A lot of pro-Ukraine people seem kinda disappointed that instead of the single warhead and 300km range ATACMS missiles that were going to destroy the Kerch Bridge, Ukraine will likely be provided the cluster warhead variant, reportedly with a reduced range of 140km.
This is what it looks on the map (by @AndrewPerpetua) .
The smaller circles represent the current range the Ukrainian HIMARS are capable of striking Russian targets on the southern front (around 80km).
The 140km range does seem to be enough to cover the entire supply routes on the southern front, the ones coming from the east (Mariupol-Volnovakha segment) as well as the one coming from Crimea.
On top of that, if these missiles are anything as accurate and as effective at penetrating the Russian air defense as HIMARS currently is, it means that the Russian airfields in the south are in big trouble.
Think of all the Ka-52 and all aircraft operating from there, they will be in big trouble if Ukrainians are just as capable of striking deep as they are doing right now with counter-battery fire in Tokmak front.
Also it is likely that the Russian long-range air defense will fall further back.
So far the S-300/S-400 systems have been mostly deployed just a little further away from the 80km range Ukrainian HIMARS have.
Now as you can see on the map the usage of ATACMS could potentially create a weak spot on the Russian air defense just north of Crimea. This will surely make it easier for Storm Shadows, SCALP-EG and Taurus missiles (which are very likely coming as well) to continue to strike military facilities in Crimea and possibly even allow such missiles to strike & destroy the “dream target” itself...the Crimean Bridge.
Of course, success is not guaranteed, even K. Budanov himself stated that it will take at least several hundreds of such missiles to have a significant impact in this war, but this post is just to show that these missiles can do much more than some people think, especially in combination with other western missiles and the F-16s which are expected to arrive next year, we will certainly see way more strikes against Russian targets in Crimea.
Even with the current limited resources the Ukrainians still have managed to cause a lot of damage so they will surely do a lot better once they get these new big toys.”
https://twitter.com/MilitaryLabb/status/1705593611746721823