#Ukrainian #armed #forces #targeted #training #missile #system #USA
Ukraine now wants new Himar artillery from the United States on the battlefield, but the Pentagon stresses the need for extensive training to ensure the long-range precision missile systems are used effectively against Russian forces.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said on Wednesday that while four of the Himars systems were being prepared for Ukraine, training focused on building a train at each to serve them, a process that could slow their delivery .
Himars is a “very sophisticated long-range system,” Milley told reporters. “We need to certify these people to make sure they know how to use the system properly.”
He said the Pentagon is coordinating closely with Ukraine’s military in preparing teams to deploy Himars — an agile, wheeled unit capable of firing 227mm precision-guided munitions up to 80 kilometers (50 miles).
That’s about twice the range of the more conventional artillery that both sides now have on the ground.
Ukraine pushed for months to get the weapons, and President Joe Biden’s administration announced on May 31 the decision to provide them.
But at the time, the Pentagon said it would take about three weeks to train teams to operate them and another two weeks for maintenance.
“We decided, in consultation with the Ukrainians, to build one train at a time,” Milley said, noting that they will have a battery in a couple of weeks and that the program will build from there.
“We have to start this thing with a rational and considered program,” Milley said.
“It wouldn’t do any good to just throw these weapon systems into battle. You have to be trained to get the maximum use out of the guns.”
Ukraine and Western allies are hoping that Himars – and the similar M270 range-based multiple-launch missile system being deployed by Britain and another unnamed country – will give Ukraine a battlefield advantage over invading Russian forces.
Current combat on the frontlines in eastern and southern Ukraine is heavily reliant on dueling artillery, much of which is devoid of precision-guided fire capability.
“If they use it properly and effectively, they will have a very, very good impact on the battlefield,” Milley said of Himars.
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