For the first time, Ukraine used the US-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to target a military facility in Russia’s Bryansk border region.
- Russia has said that Ukraine’s use of long-range ATACMS missiles against its territory marked a “new phase of the Western war” against Moscow.
About ATACMS
- ATACMS is a surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of hitting targets at up to 300km (186 miles) and it is their range that makes them particularly important for Ukraine.
- It was built by the defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
- These missiles are fired from either the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) or the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars).
- ATACMS are fuelled by solid rocket propellant and follow a ballistic path into the atmosphere before coming back down at a high speed and high angle.
- They can be configured to carry two different types of warhead. The first is a cluster fitted with hundreds of bomblets designed to destroy lighter-armoured units over a wide area. The second type is a single warhead, a 225kg high explosive variant of which is designed to destroy hardened facilities and larger structures.
