US HIMARS Start Pounding Russians In Donbas

lustylad's Avatar
It's about time! Wake up Joe! This weapon system is a game changer.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=62ce7cecb295

"HIMARS is a truck-mounted, six-round launcher for 220-millimeter-diameter rockets. The rockets can fly as far as 44 miles with 200 pounds of explosives, depending on the model. Some rocket models feature GPS guidance.

Fast-firing and highly mobile with a range that’s farther than that of most Russian artillery, HIMARS is an ideal “counterbattery” system. That is, artillery specializing in destroying other artillery. Exactly what the Ukrainian army needs, in abundance, to fight back against Russian guns and slow the Russian army’s advance across Donbas."
texassapper's Avatar
It's about time! Wake up Joe! This weapon system is a game changer. Originally Posted by lustylad
How many rounds did we give them along with the launcher? What is the cost per round? LOL... they won't be firing much of it..

I've read that the Russians have fired more rounds in a 10 day period than the US manufactures in an entire year.....

More equipment that will be abandoned on the battlefield just like in Afghanistan.
lustylad's Avatar
How many rounds did we give them along with the launchers? What is the cost per round? LOL... they won't be firing much of it.

Precision guided munitions require far fewer rounds to destroy their targets. I don't know how many rounds we're supplying - but yeah, Biden can always be counted on to fuck it up.


I've read that the Russians have fired more rounds in a 10 day period than the US manufactures in an entire year.

I call bullshit. Show me a link. Sounds like the Russians may soon be running out of artillery.


More equipment that will be abandoned on the battlefield just like in Afghanistan. Originally Posted by texassapper

You mean more Russian equipment that will be destroyed by our superior weapon systems - and more Russian soldiers who will ultimately abandon this senseless, fratricidal war against their Ukrainian brethren.
  • Mplay
  • 06-25-2022, 08:30 PM
This administration is so corrupt it’s trickled down to the top brass military. Pissing into the wind another corrupt Eastern European country. These clowns will pull out like Afghanistan and leave tons of shit behind while Russia occupies it all.
dilbert firestorm's Avatar
just 4 himars engaging the artillery batteries.


I think at this point 4 or 8 is not going to make much of a difference.
ICU 812's Avatar
The people of Ukraine are not stupid or ignorant. They have some industrial capacity (still) and engineering skills. How long will it be before they figure out how to build their own balistic rockets for the multiple rocket launchers? Some Ukraine hackers will write the code to make them fly and so on.

As a nation and society, they seem more flexible and adaptable than the Russians. The Russians may prevail, in the long run, on the basis of greater numbers and a lack of Western resolve, but not because Ukraine couldnt come up with inovative solutions.
ICU 812's Avatar
As a side issue to this thread: The armies of the world are watching how tis all plays out. Adjustments in tactics, strategy and equipment are being worked on even as the Russian invasion continues.

Things will change for everyone. What will change and how it is done will make the difference going forward. I am guessing here, but I think big nuclear aircraft carriers are on the way out. Redundency and dispersion will be more important in Naval warfare than the economies of scale concentrated in a Nimitz or Ford class carrier.

Artificial Intelligence applied to drones and artillery will be dominant technologies on land. Autonomous tank like vehicles will roll around.

But in the end, one side cannot say they own this or that hill unless they have boots on that ground and can keep them there.

Its a new world out there in the battlespace.
texassapper's Avatar
You mean more Russian equipment that will be destroyed by our superior weapon systems - and more Russian soldiers who will ultimately abandon this senseless, fratricidal war against their Ukrainian brethren. Originally Posted by lustylad
LOL.. our superior technology? You have actually heard of Vietnam right?

Technology doesn't mean shit without political will.

As for Ukraine manufacturing its own ordnance... good luck with that. Weapons plants aren't spun up over night...particularly when they are subject to getting attacked.
Yssup Rider's Avatar
LOL.. our superior technology? You have actually heard of Vietnam right?

Technology doesn't mean shit without political will.

As for Ukraine manufacturing its own ordnance... good luck with that. Weapons plants aren't spun up over night...particularly when they are subject to getting attacked. Originally Posted by texassapper
So to your point, JL, the US military sucks????
lustylad's Avatar
LOL.. our superior technology? You have actually heard of Vietnam right?

Technology doesn't mean shit without political will. Originally Posted by texassapper
We're not doing the fighting. We're sharing our superior technology with Ukrainians who have plenty of "political will". Think before you post.
texassapper's Avatar
We're not doing the fighting. We're sharing our superior technology with Ukrainians who have plenty of "political will". Think before you post. Originally Posted by lustylad
LOL. Try having some actual experience about what you're talking about before you post. Your jingoistic bullshit is lacking in actual knowledge. You read something about the US supplying HIMARS counter battery rockets to Ukraine and it's superior technology this and that...

Counter battery rockets aren't unique to the US. The Russians have had them for just as long as the US has... They aren't magic and HIMARS (especially 4) aren't going to change the trajectory of the Ukraine conflict. Particularly since we're not giving them an ass ton of reloads.

I get it - USA#1 and all that shit. Glad you're in the cheering section... but in case you hadn't noticed the house we're in is burning down and you're busy worrying about a house on the other side of town.
Why_Yes_I_Do's Avatar
Kick me hard in my Donbass
i am not up on weapon systems but....

heard someone talking about the rocket batteries

he said it was another dimocrat/biden/hand-wringing half measure

that the longer range rocket system wasnt given that would really make a difference
texassapper's Avatar
LOL... looks like the "intel professionals" are starting to figure out what those of us who did this for a living already know.



But lets string them along and get more Ukrainians killed to keep cover on the Democrats corruption and money laundering businesses in Ukraine.

And the Pentagon can't figure out why they can't meet their recruitment quotas... LOL.
lustylad's Avatar
New U.S. Guided Rockets Strengthen Ukraine’s Hand Against Russia

Himars can reach twice as far behind enemy lines; ‘a stick in the wheel’ of Moscow’s war effort


By Stephen Kalin
Updated July 1, 2022 2:08 pm ET


SLOVYANKA, Ukraine—American-supplied high-tech rocket launchers have begun arriving on the front line in eastern Ukraine. Already they are shifting the balance of power in the fierce artillery duel being fought with Russian forces, Ukrainian officers say.

For more than a month, a Russian field headquarters not far from here was frustratingly beyond the range of Lt. Valentyn Koval’s Soviet-era artillery battery, he said. That changed last week, when Lt. Koval’s unit got a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars.

Under cover of darkness, his unit drove the truck-mounted rocket launcher into position, punched in coordinates and pressed the launch button. Six 200-pound rockets slammed into the Russian position, largely destroying it, said Lt. Koval, who commands two Himars launchers.

The Russian base was one of about 10 high-value positions Lt. Koval says Ukraine has hit in the two weeks since taking charge of the systems, the most sophisticated weaponry Washington has supplied to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.

Ukrainian soldiers operating Himars say they have doubled their reach into Russian-held territory with greater precision and less risk to themselves. Kyiv officials say such weaponry is their best hope to defeat the Russians in what has become a grueling war of attrition.

“These Himars are very powerful. They allow us as much as possible to put a stick in their wheel,” 22-year-old Lt. Koval said about the Russian forces. “It’s a huge advantage for us. Russia has nothing comparable.”

Four Himars launchers were delivered in June and four more are expected by mid-July. On Thursday, President Biden said Ukraine would receive additional batteries from other countries and more ammunition from the U.S. as part of a new $800 million assistance package.

Washington was initially reluctant to provide Himars, fearing such a move could cause Moscow to retaliate against the U.S. or its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The rockets have roughly twice the range of the M777 howitzers that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine.

“They can hit Russian systems with them,” said Sam Cranny-Evans, a research analyst at the Royal United Service Institute think tank in London. A lot will depend on the quality of the Ukrainians’ intelligence and reconnaissance of Russian targets, he added, but Moscow will be looking to destroy the Himars so that they no longer pose a threat.

Ukrainian officials have argued that they need longer-range artillery to offset the Russian military’s enormous firepower.

The U.S. has declined to provide Ukraine with longer-range rockets that can be fired by the Himars at targets up to 185 miles away.

Russian officials have sharply criticized the U.S. decision to supply Himars, saying Washington is pouring fuel on the fire and threatening to respond if the systems are used to target Russian territory.

For the Ukrainian operators, Himars provide an opportunity to level the playing field against an enemy that has more men and more guns. The U.S. and its Western allies had previously focused on providing 155mm howitzers, with range comparable to Russian systems, to replace Ukraine’s own Soviet-era stock.

Each Himars fires six precision-guided rockets with a range of up to 48 miles, giving the Ukrainians the ability to strike Russian command posts, ammunition and fuel depots, as well as troop concentrations in rear areas.

Soviet-designed Smerch and Uragan long-range multiple-launch systems are imprecise and time-consuming to use, relying on analog instruments for targeting. The systems are unarmored, difficult to maneuver and often break down, exposing operators to risk of counterattack.

Himars are smaller and easier to maneuver, helping them hide from enemy reconnaissance. Crews work inside an armored cabin. And they are fast: once parked, they can begin launching rockets within two or three minutes and move again 20 seconds after firing.

“You press three buttons. A few seconds and the system is ready to shoot,” said Lt. Koval. “I don’t have enough fingers to count all the advantages of Himars.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on June 23 that the first Himars had arrived. “Summer will be hot for russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them,” he wrote on Twitter.

The following day, Lt. Koval and his men—who received three weeks of training in May from American instructors at a base in Germany—set to work.

Operating at night to avoid detection by Russian drones, Lt. Koval directed each system to a different launch point in a coordinated attack with 24 rockets on Russian positions. Operators like Pvt. Dmytro Kovalenko, 18 years old, put coordinates into a digital system that uses satellites to direct strikes and then pressed the launch button.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-u-s...ia-11656698614