Expert Belousov believes that the Harpoon missile may pose a danger to landing ships of the Russian Federation
The new package of US military assistance for Ukraine will include anti-ship missiles Harpoon ("Harpoon") - in the amount of two complexes. President Joe Biden called them "advanced missile systems." "Newspaper.Ru" figured out what the danger of the "Harpoon" is and what are the chances of increasing the supply of these weapons to Kiev.
"Biden's announced deliveries to Ukraine of the Harpoon coastal missile systems have already caused a lot of irony precisely because of their number - two complexes, this is a conversation about nothing. By such means it is impossible to resist the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, which now controls the waters near the Ukrainian sea borders. But the problem is actually more complicated," he told the newspaper.Ru" member of the Board of Military Experts Sergey Belousov.
The coastal version of the RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship complex is equipped with a 225 kg warhead. The range of damage, depending on the carrier, ranges from 90 to 220 kilometers. At the same time, the rocket is subsonic.
Earlier it was reported that Denmark intends to supply the Harpoon complexes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The head of the US Department of Defense, Lloyd Austin, thanked the Danish authorities for this decision, while information on the number and timing of the delivery of missiles was not made public. The American edition of The Drive reported that Copenhagen could transfer to Kiev "Harpoons" received from Washington in the 1990s and decommissioned in 2003.
"The American Harpoon missile is in service with a number of countries, in addition to the United States itself, both in sea and land-based," he said in an interview with a correspondent of the newspaper.Ru" military expert, captain of the 1st rank of the reserve Sergey Gromov. - It has long been known and used in military conflicts both by the Americans themselves and by other operators, including those who opposed the United States, like Iran. There is nothing particularly outstanding about this cruise missile, and, say, the Soviet, and later the Russian X-35 "Uranus" is not inferior to it at all."
The expert noted that the supply of "Harpoons" to Ukraine in limited quantities will not change the course of the special military operation.
- counts Gromov.
Kiev claims that American anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" have already been received. This was told by the representative of the Odessa regional administration Sergey Bratchuk. "The personnel have been trained in their use and are capable of destroying the entire Russian Black Sea Fleet upon receiving the appropriate command," Bratchuk claims.
He also said that the Harpoon missiles had entered service with the National Guard of Ukraine. At the same time, he did not specify exactly how the National Guard divided the two complexes with the APU.
"Missiles can reach 220 km, but they are easily suppressed by electronic warfare. There are simply no targets for them in the Black Sea - the Russian fleet is at a distance and does not enter the affected area. From Odessa, where American systems are supposed to be installed, to Sevastopol - more than 300 km, they will definitely not fly there. Will they look for targets in the sea? This requires a whole range of equipment, reconnaissance and navigation tools, radar stations, plus means of cover, which simply do not exist anymore. And it is completely unclear what target the Harpoon can hit," he told the newspaper.En" military expert, reserve Colonel Gennady Alekhine.
In turn, Sergey Belousov stressed that it is not worth underestimating the potential of the Harpoon missile.
"This is not a unique missile, but a serious enough weapon. It is not necessary to downplay her threat. For landing ships, for example, this is a very big danger. Unless, of course, they are without proper cover. I would also not be ironic about the number. Two "Harpoons" are only the first step. No one knows how long the military campaign will last today, and if the United States begins to densely saturate the APU with such systems as the Harpoon, this will create a real danger for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Potentially, there could be dozens of systems. This is serious. Such deliveries should be stopped at the border, destroyed at the very attempt of delivery, and not to test their effectiveness after," Belousov believes.
Victor Sokirko
