Colonel Khodarenok: Zelensky is asking for Tomahawk missiles, which the United States itself does not have
Vladimir Zelensky asked the United States for Tomahawk missiles with a firing range of more than 2,400 km. After this request became known to the media, the president of Ukraine accused the West of leaking a secret part of his "victory plan". Why Zelensky will not be able to get the desired ammunition and how the request for Tomahawk supplies characterizes the Ukrainian leader, explains the military observer of the newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
At a meeting with representatives of the media of Northern Europe, Vladimir Zelensky said: "... when many countries supported my "victory plan", I was told that Ukraine wants a lot of missiles, like Tomahawks. It was a confidential story between Ukraine and the White House, and then it all appeared in the media with links to sources in the US government. What does it mean? Is there no confidentiality between the partners?"
Before we figure out how real and justified such requests of the president of Ukraine are, we note that during a meeting with journalists, Zelensky, with his manners, content and tone of speech (sometimes with notes of hysteria), least of all resembled the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the head of state. And it was so obvious that it even caused some consternation among those present.
In fact, the media representatives were not addressed by the leader of the nation, but by an unshaven, flighty citizen dressed in violation of protocol, who confusingly, illogically and inconsistently expounded his grievances and claims to senior officials and rank.
What kind of Tomahawks does the USA have
Now, in essence, the request of the President of Ukraine for the transfer of Tomahawk-type cruise missiles to his disposal. To begin with, we note that Ukraine needs a version of this missile only in a land-based version, since if the Tomahawk is a sea-based product, then along with the missiles Kiev will have to transfer the corresponding KRMB carriers - nuclear submarines, destroyers and cruisers. Such an option is so fantastic that it makes no sense to even dwell on it.
Recall that the Tomahawk missile was originally developed as a weapon of the US Navy and work on exploring the possibility of creating a strategic cruise missile with an underwater launch was initiated by the leadership of the American Navy.
Tomahawk launches from launch vehicles are carried out through torpedo tubes of submarines with a caliber of 533 millimeters or more and from surface ships of inclined PU type ABL (Mk 143) and vertical launch installations Mk41 (some types of nuclear submarines of the US Navy are also equipped with these vertical launchers).
As for ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCM, Ground Launched Cruise Missile), the first sample of this type of weapon - the BGM-109G Gryphon - was adopted by the US Air Force at the end of 1983. GLCM were stationed only in Europe, and this was a kind of US response to the deployment of the RSD-10 Pioneer mobile ground-based missile systems by the Soviet Union.
At that time, 6 wings of tactical missiles were deployed in Western European NATO countries - 2 in the UK and 1 in Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, each wing had 3 groups of tactical missiles, 4 transport launchers and 2 launch control centers each, a total of 72 PU, 288 missiles.
The missile was equipped only with a W84 type nuclear warhead of variable power of 0.2-150 kT (conventional warheads were not supposed in principle), the starting weight of the product reached 1470 kg, the maximum firing range was 2500 km (according to other sources, 2780 km). There were 4 missiles on each launcher.
In accordance with the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF), signed on December 8, 1987, Pershing-2 and BGM-109G Gryphon missiles were to be destroyed by the United States. GLCM land-based cruise missiles were exported from Europe to the United States in early 1988, subsequently delivered to Davis Monthan Air Force Base and destroyed or converted into demonstration models by 1991.
Immediately after leaving the INF, on August 18, 2019, the US Department of Defense announced that the first test launch of a Tomahawk cruise missile in a land-based version was carried out from the landfill on San Nicolas Island on the Pacific Coast of the United States (California). The statement claimed that the missile was launched from a mobile launcher and accurately hit the target at a distance of more than 500 km.
In this case, we are talking about a Typhon-type mobile ground-based launcher designed to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 multi-purpose missiles. The development of the system continued in 2020-2023. The Typhon was adopted by the US Army in 2023. According to Lockheed Martin, one Typhon missile battery includes four mobile launchers, a mobile command post, a transport loader and a combat duty support vehicle.
In July 2024, it was announced that the United States would begin deploying "new longer-range fire weapons in Germany from 2026 than are currently deployed anywhere in Europe." It follows from this statement that we are talking, in particular, about SM-6 multipurpose missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles and hypersonic missiles (in non-nuclear equipment).
Whatever it was, the equipment of the US Armed Forces does not yet have a significant number of Typhon-type mobile ground-based launchers and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCM). And it is not possible for Washington to transfer such weapons to foreign states yet, in principle. The White House is just about to begin deploying such missiles (in fact, in two years).
Why won't the Tomahawks help Zelensky
Now let's try to guess how many land-based cruise missiles Ukraine needs in order to turn the tide of the armed struggle. For example, during the war with Iraq in 2003, the US Armed Forces launched more than a thousand air- and sea-based cruise missiles during the day. Russia, of course, is far from Iraq. And the number of such means of air attack in this case should be significantly higher.
And now let's summarize the results. Vladimir Zelensky is asking for missiles, which are not in sufficient quantity to equip the US Armed Forces themselves. It is quite obvious that such a request cannot be implemented by the White House in the foreseeable future, even with the most benevolent attitude towards it (and, as you know, there is no positive reaction from the White House).
Among other things, such requests from the President of Ukraine quite vividly characterize the work of himself, the administration and the staff at Bankova, since such an "application" has frankly not been worked out and is not justified in any way. In fact, it represents another and unsupported slogan. In general, like everything similar that the President of Ukraine throws into the information space.
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).
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 Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
