With ‘Moscow in range’, Biden, before his term ends, allows Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia
In a departure from policy towards the fag end of his tenure, US President Joe Biden is reported to have allowed Ukraine to use the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) supplied by America to strike targets inside Russia.
This, coupled with the consequential possibility of the use of the longer-range Storm Shadow missile supplied by the United Kingdom, has the risk of bringing the war to the doorstep of Moscow.
With American approval to employ the 300-kms range ATACMS, Ukraine can hit areas like Kaluga, a historically and culturally important city just about 150 kms southwest of Moscow.
This is the closest place to the Russian capital within the ATACMS’ reach.
On the other hand, the Storm Shadow has a range of 550 kms. The shortest distance, as the crow flies, where Russia has occupied territory in eastern and southern Ukraine is roughly 550 kms from Moscow, though the nearest point to the Ukrainian border, on the north-eastern part of this country, is about 430 kms away.
Kursk, the site of intense World War-II campaigns, Bryansk, Oryol, Voronezh, Lipetsk and Rostov-on-Don further down to the south are among other potential targets as are several major Russian air bases and military headquarters.
Several Russian military establishments have already been hit by Ukrainian drones, aircraft and other weapons.
Ukraine has so far been firing the ATACMS and Storm Shadow only at places where its territory has been occupied by Russia. Striking targets inside Russia, which may not be possible without technical, intelligence and target acquisition support from the West, has the potential to significantly alter the dimensions of the nearly three-year old war and may have repercussions beyond the battlefield.
Ukraine had then insisted that it would not use the Storm Shadow missiles to hit Russian territory. There have been numerous instances of this missile being launched from Ukraine’s SU-24 fighters against Russian targets in the area of conflict.
Biden allowing the use of ATACMS to hit Russian territory may also enable the longer-range Storm Shadow to be similarly used. If that happens, Moscow would be within reach if the European-made missile is launched from north-eastern Ukraine.
A vehicle-based system, the ATACMS is a tactical ballistic missile with a range of up to 300 kms and uses various types of conventional warheads. Designed in the 1980s during the Cold War and manufactured by Lockheed Martin, it entered US service in 1991.
It was first used in combat during Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 against Iraq, when 32 were reported to have been launched. During Operation Iraqi Freedom in what is also called the Second Gulf War that lasted from 2003 to 2011, another 450 were fired at targets inside Iraq.
In 2015, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to upgrade with missiles with new hardware, electronics, guidance units and warheads. The upgradation of existing stockpiles with more advanced munitions continues. The US has also developed a replacement for the ATACMS, which is referred to as the Precision Strike Missile.
Different variants of the ATACMS have also been exported to Bahrain, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, South Korea, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. In addition, Australia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Morocco are in the process of acquiring the upgraded versions of this missile.
India’s Prahar, Russia’s 9K720 Iskander, Israel’s LORA and China’s P-12 are among contemporary road mobile tactical ballistic missile systems that are comparable to the ATACMS.
Ukraine began using the ATACMS in October 2023 after 20 systems were initially delivered by the US. These were of the older variant having a shorter range and were deployed in the Crimea area. From February 2024, the US began delivering longer range variants and these were used for a strike on the Dzhankoi air base in Crimea that had been occupied by Russia in 2014.
There have also been reports of Russia launching air defence missiles to intercept the ATACMS in the Sevastopol area of Crimea, following which Russian president Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation for attacks on Russian territory.
