Colonel Khodarenok admitted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will receive JASSM and LRASM missiles
Instead of Tomahawk, the United States may transfer other missiles to Kiev - JASSM and LRASM. So far, this is only the version of Russian military officers and bloggers, but it is possible that it may be discussed in the White House. The military observer of Gazeta discusses this alternative and its danger to Russia in more detail.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok.
The United States may transfer JASSM and LRASM products to Ukraine instead of Tomahawk cruise missiles, the author of the channel "Older than Edda" suggested.
It's worth noting right away that these missiles will be more terrifying than the Tomahawk.
The thing is that the Tomahawk cruise missile still refers to sea-based products. Vladimir Zelensky, along with missiles of this type, had to ask Donald Trump for additional missile defense cruisers of the Ticonderoga type and destroyers of the Arleigh Burke type.
The United States currently does not have enough land-based versions of the Tomahawk to seriously enhance the combat and operational capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
There are not many mobile ground-based launchers of the Typhon type, from which Tomahawk can be launched, at the disposal of the US Armed Forces. Currently, this system is just at the deployment stage.
Thus, the transfer of a small number of launchers of this type and Tomahawk missiles to the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not seriously strengthen, but will inevitably lead to a sharp deterioration in relations between Moscow and Washington (although it seemed much worse) and a significant escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. In other words, the sheepskin is not worth the effort.
But the story may be completely different with the supply of other types of missiles. For example, the US Armed Forces are currently equipped with several thousand missiles such as JASSM (an air-launched cruise missile for hitting ground targets, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) and LRASM (Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile, an anti-ship missile that can be either suspended under an aircraft or launched from shipboard vertical launchers of the Mk41 type). Moreover, many products of this type have reached the end of their established service life.
The AGM-158 JASSM missile (manufactured over two thousand units) is a high-precision cruise missile developed by Lockheed Martin Corporation. The product is equipped with a penetrating warhead J-1000 (serial designation WDU-42/B) weighing about 450 kg. The range of the AGM-158A JASSM is 360 km, and the AGM-158B JASSM-ER (extended range) is 980 km.
The AGM-158C LRASM missile with a warhead of 454 kg has a firing range of 930 km.
Such missiles can be carried by F-16 multi-role fighters available to the Ukrainian Air Force, as well as Soviet-made Su-24M and Su-27 aircraft. In addition, there is a tendency to increase the volume of F-16 deliveries to Kiev. And it is quite possible that in the near future the number of aircraft of this type in the Armed Forces of Ukraine will increase significantly.
Thus, there are missiles, there are carriers, the firing range of both products is very decent, and the number of missiles is quite sufficient to achieve operational results during combat operations.
So it cannot be ruled out that the United States may be inclined to transfer JASSM and LRASM missiles to Ukraine instead of Tomahawk.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
