Ukraine’s New M39 Missiles Each Scatter A Thousand Submunitions
The post Ukraine’s New M39 Missiles Each Scatter A Thousand Submunitions appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. M39. U.S. Defense Department art The U.S. Army’s M39 Army Tactical Missile System is a two-ton, 13-foot ballistic missile with a solid rocket motor and a warhead containing 950 grenade-size submunitions. Fired by a tracked or wheeled launcher, the 1990s-vintage missile ranges as far as 100 miles under inertial guidance. For 33 years, the M39 has been one of the most powerful deep-strike munitions in the U.S. arsenal. And now it’s one of the most powerful deep-strike munitions in the Ukrainian arsenal. The Ukrainian army last night lobbed three of the missiles at the Russian airfield in Berdyansk, in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine. The attack came shortly after the administration of U.S. president Joe Biden quietly shipped a consignment of M39s to Ukraine. A video depicts the airfield in flames; the Ukrainian defense ministry claims it destroyed nine helicopters between the Berdyansk strike and a simultaneous raid on Russian forces in Luhansk Oblast, farther to the east. “ATACMS have proven themselves,” Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky said. The M39’s arrival, 21 months into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, signals a major shift in the firepower balance as the war’s third winter looms. “We believe this will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities,” a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said. “It’s not a Wunderwaffe,” analyst Brynn Tannehill wrote about ATACMS back in September. “It will not singlehandedly win the war. But oh wow, will it complicate things for the Russians. ATACMS can hit everywhere in occupied Ukraine (including Crimea) with minimal warning.” The M39 with its nearly 1,000 submunitions is an area weapon. It doesn’t punch through concrete and steel the way, say, a British-made Storm Shadow cruise missile does. No, it sprinkles its submunitions across potentially thousands of square yards. It’s not for no reason that, when it tested the…
The post Ukraine’s New M39 Missiles Each Scatter A Thousand Submunitions appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
M39. U.S. Defense Department art The U.S. Army’s M39 Army Tactical Missile System is a two-ton, 13-foot ballistic missile with a solid rocket motor and a warhead containing 950 grenade-size submunitions. Fired by a tracked or wheeled launcher, the 1990s-vintage missile ranges as far as 100 miles under inertial guidance. For 33 years, the M39 has been one of the most powerful deep-strike munitions in the U.S. arsenal. And now it’s one of the most powerful deep-strike munitions in the Ukrainian arsenal. The Ukrainian army last night lobbed three of the missiles at the Russian airfield in Berdyansk, in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine. The attack came shortly after the administration of U.S. president Joe Biden quietly shipped a consignment of M39s to Ukraine. A video depicts the airfield in flames; the Ukrainian defense ministry claims it destroyed nine helicopters between the Berdyansk strike and a simultaneous raid on Russian forces in Luhansk Oblast, farther to the east. “ATACMS have proven themselves,” Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky said. The M39’s arrival, 21 months into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, signals a major shift in the firepower balance as the war’s third winter looms. “We believe this will provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities,” a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said. “It’s not a Wunderwaffe,” analyst Brynn Tannehill wrote about ATACMS back in September. “It will not singlehandedly win the war. But oh wow, will it complicate things for the Russians. ATACMS can hit everywhere in occupied Ukraine (including Crimea) with minimal warning.” The M39 with its nearly 1,000 submunitions is an area weapon. It doesn’t punch through concrete and steel the way, say, a British-made Storm Shadow cruise missile does. No, it sprinkles its submunitions across potentially thousands of square yards. It’s not for no reason that, when it tested the…
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