Plus 18 M142 HIMARS. But not at once
Pentagon announced the composition of the next military aid package for Ukraine in the amount of $1.1 billion. Among other things, it will include 18 more highly mobile M142 HIMARS artillery missile systems. But there is a nuance.
The Ministry of Defense of the United State will not withdraw these M142 HIMARS from its own armed forces, but will order from the manufacturer, so it will take some time for the delivery of MLRS. And unfortunately, we are not talking about months, but years.
“The procurement and delivery of these HIMARS systems and associated ammunition will take a few years. Today’s announcement is only the beginning of a procurement process,” a senior Pentagon official said during a briefing. This was reported by Yevropeiska Pravda .
On the other hand, the purchase of new HIMARS does not prevent the US from withdrawing existing systems from its own arsenal if necessary. The purpose of this contract is to have systems in reserve for delivery at a later date.
“If we don’t invest today to procure HIMARS for the future, they won’t be there when the Ukrainian armed forces need them down the road,” the official said. “This is a really sizable investment and it’s intended so that down the road, Ukraine will have what it needs for the long-haul to deter future threats. It in no way rules out us continuing to invest in their current force with capabilities that are available today, and that we can draw down today from U.S. stocks.”
The full list of the next package of military aid includes:
- 18 MLRS M142 HIMARS;
- 150 HMMWV armored vehicles;
- 150 tactical vehicles for towing weapons;
- 40 trucks and 80 trailers for transporting heavy equipment;
- two radars for unmanned aerial vehicles;
- 20 multipurpose radars;
- anti-drone aerial systems (most likely Titan);
- protected communication systems, surveillance systems and optics;
- equipment for disposal of explosive objects;
- body armor and other field equipment;
- funding of training, maintenance and support.
A very interesting item on this list is anti-UAV systems. According to AP News, there are 12 Titan C-UAS complexes from the BlueHalo company, for combating military-grade UAVs.
The Titan C-UAS is a jammer that, even under the control of an untrained operator, can “land” any UAV at a distance of up to 1.5 km. The target detection range is 3 km. The system itself analyzes threats and selects the best method of combating them, without creating obstacles for other electronic equipment. The system is very easy to operate – the complex can be deployed and configured in 5 minutes, no additional operator intervention is required. The system uses machine learning and elements of artificial intelligence to identify threats and methods of neutralization.
Obviously, the Titan C-UAS complexes will be necessary in the fight against the Iranian Shaheds, which are terrorizing the south of Ukraine.