Ukrainian forces dismantle Russian convoy with tungsten rocket strikes
Ukrainians continue their offensive in the Kursk region, and the Russians are desperately trying to transport reinforcements from other areas. It turns out that some of these columns are being destroyed by Ukrainians using GMLRS M30A1 rockets, which shower the area with deadly tungsten balls. Here's how this powerful American weapon works in detail.
Near Rylsk in the Kursk region, Ukrainians eliminated a column of 15 vehicles with reinforcements heading to assist the rest of the Russian forces in the area. The column fell victim to GMLRS M30A1 rockets fired from M142 HIMARS or M270 MLRS systems.
There's little left of the convoy that shows the characteristic marks of the "tungsten shower." A video published on Martin Tuitero's account on X shows the scale of destruction, and the one below captures the moment of the attack.
Deadly "tungsten shower" from the USA
Produced in 2015, the M30A1 rockets were created as a type of area weapon with effectiveness similar to that of cluster munitions but without their issues. This refers to the problem of duds that can pose a deadly threat even decades after a war.
The desired effect was achieved using a special warhead known as the Alternative Warhead (AW), which contains explosive material and a load of 182,000 tungsten balls. The AW warhead is designed to explode about 10 metres above the target, thoroughly covering a significant area with shrapnel.
It's worth noting that tungsten balls have very high kinetic energy; they can easily penetrate helmets and bulletproof vests that rely solely on Kevlar inserts. In practice, the energy of these fragments doesn't greatly differ from that of bullets with a steel core fired from an AKM or AK-74 rifle.
In such a case, the only relatively safe objects in the blast zone would be bunkers or the interior of, for example, BTR-80 armoured personnel carriers or similar vehicles. For this reason, an attack on a convoy of trucks carrying dozens of soldiers in the back had to result in huge losses for the Russians.
AW warheads are used in M30A1 rockets, which, like other GMLRS rockets, feature a combination of inertial and satellite navigation, providing sufficient accuracy over a range of up to 80 kilometres. However, with electronic warfare systems jamming the GPS, the accuracy of hits decreases, and more rockets are needed to achieve the optimal effect.
