Missiles must hit targets throughout the entire territory of temporarily occupied Crimea

A group ofleading Republicans in the US Congress called on President Joe Biden to provideUkraine with longer-range ATACMS missiles. In this way, they demonstratedsupport for Kyiv among US congressmen, despite the resistance of someconservatives to increasing aid to Kyiv.

Accordingto Reuters ,in a letter to Biden dated 1 November, leading Republicans from theCongressional Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees welcomed theannouncement that Ukraine would receive several Army Tactical Air-to-AirMissile Systems (ATACMS). At the same time, the lawmakers are asking formissiles with a longer range.

"Ukraine'sneed for a deep strike capability remains urgent, especially for long-rangeengagement of targets throughout Crimea," Congressmen Michael McCaul andMike Rogers, as well as Senators James Risch and Roger Wicker, said in theletter.

McCaulchairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rogers chairs the House ArmedServices Committee, Risch is the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee, and Wicker is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee.

In theirletter, the lawmakers noted that Ukraine has requested long-range ATACMSsystems and demonstrated the ability to use them responsibly, and that Russiahas not escalated in response to their use.

"Obviously,it's time for you to finish the work on ATACMS. The cost of failing to do sonot only threatens to stalemate the battlefield and further prolong this war,but also threatens further global instability as our adversaries (Russia - Ed.)conduct influence operations around the world," they wrote.

The groupof Republicans sent the letter as the Republican-majority House ofRepresentatives was nearing a vote on a separate Israel aid bill, ignoringDemocratic President Joe Biden's request for a broad $106 billion nationalsecurity funding bill with funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

The ATACMS (Army Tactical missile System) is a family of short-range USballistic missiles manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

Themissiles are designed to engage enemy targets, such as command posts, missilelaunchers, air defence facilities, communication hubs, ammunition depots, etc.They can operate in all weather conditions and at any time of the day.

Themissiles are launched from M142 HIMARS (wheeled chassis, one missile) and M270MLRS (tracked chassis, two missiles) launchers.

There arefive ATACMS modifications that differ in range and accuracy. Currently, Ukrainehas received MGM-140A Block 1 missiles. This modification has an M39 clusterwarhead armed with M74 submunitions designed to destroy enemy manpower andlightly defended material. The range is up to 165 km.

TheMGM-140A ATACMS Block 1 is capable of hitting targets in the temporarilyoccupied Crimea, but cannot reach the Crimean Bridge and remote enemy targetsin the deep rear. For such purposes, MGM-140B ATACMS Block 1A missiles with arange of up to 300 km are required.

The history of the delivery of the first ATACMSmissiles to Ukraine

On 21 June,the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passeda draft resolution calling on the government to transfer ATACMS to Ukraine.

OnSeptember 22, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inWashington, D.C., Joe Biden promised to provide a"small number" of ATACMS.

On 17October, the Armed Forces of Ukraine's Special Operations Forces attackedairfields in the Russian-occupied cities of Berdiansk and Luhansk withmissiles. The attack destroyed 9 enemy helicopters and damaged 15 others.

PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy confirmedthe use of long-range ATACMS missiles to strike targets in the temporarilyoccupied territory of Ukraine.