Americans authorize Ukrainian strikes on Russian border regions near Kharkiv

Americans have permitted Ukrainians to use their weapons to attack Russian targets in the border regions near Kharkiv. Here is what Ukrainians might use.

Americans have finally expressed - although limited - approval for Ukrainians to use their weapons to attack targets on Russian territory. This pertains to the border area in the Kharkiv region. In this case, Ukrainians are prohibited from using ballistic missiles, such as the MGM-140 ATACMS.

With other weapons, this restriction does not exist, and photos have already appeared showing the remains of GMLRS rockets found near Belgorod. These are the basic equipment of the multi-launch rocket systems M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS.

Ukrainians are supposed to use GMLRS rockets with a caliber of 225 mm (approximately 8.9 inches), which have a range of about 80 km (approximately 50 miles) and come in several versions. These include the M31A1/A2 rockets with a "unitary" type warhead, the standard high-explosive M30A1 with the Alternative Warhead filling the area with a shower of tungsten balls, and the M30 with the Cluster Warhead containing hundreds of DPICM bomblets.

The first contains a 90 kg (approximately 198-pound) warhead containing 23 kg (approximately 51 pounds) of TNT, making it well-suited for attacking fortified targets such as command points or buildings. It may not seem like much, but thanks to guidance based on a combination of inertial and satellite navigation, it's enough.

It is worth noting, however, that the real effectiveness of these rockets is lower since the Russians learned to jam the GPS signal, as inertial navigation is less precise than satellite navigation, and its error increases with distance. Therefore, we do not have as big of a problem as with the GLSDB rocket, which has practically twice the range with the same firepower.

The second option is the M30A1 rocket with the Alternative Warhead, which explodes in the air and showers a significant area with a rain of 182,000 tungsten balls that can pierce bulletproof vests. These missiles are designed to destroy soft targets and were created to replace the controversial cluster munitions.

The M30 missiles seen in the photos are an older solution from the 1990s and early 2000s, which were only produced for a short time before being replaced by the M30A1 variant. The M30 rockets were supposed to offer a range of more than 60 km (approximately 37 miles) and carry 404 M85 DPICM (Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition) bomblets.

M85 charges weigh about 300 grams (approximately 0.66 pounds) and have enough power to penetrate the upper armor of tanks (10-12 cm or approximately 3.9-4.7 inches of steel armor) and have a shrapnel effective range of several meters. Despite their high effectiveness, Americans stopped producing and using them due to their high dud rate, which poses problems even decades after a war.

In theory, the dud rate was not supposed to exceed 2 percent, but in reality, it was 5 percent or even 15 percent in extremely unfavorable conditions, such as a bomblet falling on muddy ground. The problem was supposed to be solved by Israeli IMI fuses with a self-destruct mechanism having a declared dud rate of below 1 percent, but they were too expensive ($20 instead of $7). Now it appears that these rockets have also reached Ukraine, which is making good use of them.

Russians have vividly learned about the effectiveness of GMLRS rockets in the second half of 2022, and now what seemed to be their safe rear logistics for the forces from the Kharkiv direction is being eliminated.