US military advisors operate Ukraine's ATACMS missile

On November 20, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Ukraine had launched six ATACMS ballistic missiles at a military facility in the Bryansk region deep inside Russian territory. Moscow's air defenses shot down five of the missiles and damaged the remaining missile, whose debris fell and caused a fire at the facility, but the fire was quickly extinguished.

Commenting on the attack, Russian military expert Alexander Mikhailov said: "US military advisers are behind the deployment of Ukraine's ATACMS missiles, because controlling the flight of this type of missile is a complicated process."

Military experts all agree that Ukraine cannot operate the ATACMS missile on its own and needs US military advisors. (Photo: Bloomberg)

Mr. Mikhailov analyzed that the ATACMS missile uses US military satellite positioning data. Ukrainian soldiers cannot access this data. On the other hand, determining the target and coordinates also comes from US intelligence forces and setting up the missile also requires foreign military advisors.

"Ukraine cannot launch ATACMS missiles without American advisers," Mikhailov said, stressing that the US will not transfer the ATACMS algorithm, code and coordinate input mechanism to the Ukrainian military.

Mr. Mikhailov's assessment is also agreed by former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter. According to Mr. Ritter, the ATACMS missile cannot be operated by anyone other than US soldiers.

Targeting data is identified and analyzed by Pentagon intelligence centers in Europe. The information is transmitted to a U.S. liaison station in Ukraine via a private encryption system and loaded onto the missile by military advisers, Ritter said.

"It can be seen that the planning of the attack, loading data into the missile and pressing the button all had the hands of American advisors. In other words, the "American military" is behind the attack on Russian territory," Mr. Ritter commented.

This is the first time Ukraine has attacked Russian territory with long-range weapons supplied by the West since the beginning of the conflict. Kiev has previously only used domestically produced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for this mission.

The move came shortly after US media reported that the Biden administration had allowed Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by Washington to strike deep into enemy territory. The White House has not confirmed this information.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov affirmed on November 19 that Ukraine's ATACMS missile launch was a sign that the West wanted to escalate tensions.

"We will consider this a new stage in the nature of the war waged by the West against Russia," Lavrov said, accusing the US and its allies of supporting Ukraine in operating the missiles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not commented, but he has said that Ukraine's use of long-range Western weapons to attack Russian territory would push NATO into direct war with Moscow.

The ATACMS ballistic missile was developed by the US in the 1980s and put into service in 1991, and can be fired from HIMARS or M270 rocket artillery. The US is said to have transferred to Ukraine about 50 ATACMS missiles, including two variants with ranges of 165 km and 300 km, respectively.

Tra Khanh (Source: Sputnik)

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/co-van-quan-su-my-van-hanh-ten-lua-atacms-cua-ukraine-ar908668.html