Kyiv has repeatedly called Washington to supply US winged Jassm missiles, which, according to Ukrainian military experts, can provide an advantage on the battlefield and achieve results that are unattainable for European analogues such as French Scalp and British Storm Shadow. But what are these missiles and why did they bring such interest?
This winged rocket can carry a 450-kilogram combing, runs from the fighter or bomber. In the most modern modification, it is able to impress targets at a distance of 800 kilometers.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long been calling for the transfer of such rockets to Kiev. According to Reuters, following the American ATCMS, British Storm Shadow and French Scalp Washington can soon officially announce the supply of a new type of missile-Jassm (Joint Air-To-To-Surface Standoff Missile.
According to three US officials who spoke with the Agency on the conditions of anonymity, the decisions will be announced in the fall, but for direct deliveries will take several months. This information has not been officially confirmed.
Missiles with a radius of action from 370 to 800 kilometers (depending on the modification) will be a serious help for the Armed Forces. When they run from border areas, they will be able to affect the aerodromes, ammunition depots and other military facilities in Voronezh and Bryansk, as well as the naval bases in the Crimea-south of the front line.
However, Washington will have to clarify the framework in which Kiev will be able to use this weapon to strike in the Russian territory, as allies of Ukraine impose restrictions on the use of their arsenal to avoid dangerous escalation.
Each Jassm, produced by Lockheed Martin, carries a timber weighing 450 kilograms, but, unlike Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles, is not intended solely for the destruction of fortified bins. The latest modifications cost about a million dollars apiece.
One of the advantages of this rocket is its secrecy. Its length is four meters, it is able to evade radar surveillance, in particular, due to the fact that the flight occurs at a very low height. It can also move alternative routes to evade air defense systems.
"This is not the most secret weapons," George William Herbert said of the Middleberian Institute for International Research in California. But in Syria, "some such rockets were released by government troops, and Russian air defense systems in this country could not knock down many of them - and maybe none."
F-16n, could or "dry"?
JASSM also distinguish high accuracy. When approaching the target, the rocket can be directed by infrared sensors to the lesion point with a probable deviation of about three meters. In the latest modifications, the specialist said, onboard technologies give missiles resistance to electronic obstacles.
And finally, this rocket runs out of the air. Previously, they were launched only from US development aircraft, so Kiev could use the US F-16 supplied, capable of carrying two winged missiles.
One of the Reuters interlocutors reported that rocket compatibility with non -western fighters is being done. He did not specify whether it was about MiG-29, Su-24 and Su-27 of Soviet production that Ukraine owns.
