Ukrainian forces dismantle Russia's S‑400 in Crimea with HIMARS

Ukrainians continue to dismantle Russia's medium-range anti-aircraft defence. This time, a battery of the S-400 Triumph system located in Crimea was targeted. Here is what the Ukrainians used.

Ukrainians continue shelling valuable targets located in Crimea, such as batteries of medium-range anti-aircraft systems. They reported destroying four launchers from the S-400 Triumph complex deployed around Sevastopol.

Another target was the repaired submarine "Rostov-on-Don," which sank after being hit. The attack was carried out by a rocket artillery unit cooperating with the Ukrainian Navy. This indicates the use of M142 HIMARS launchers loaded with MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles, known for their success in targeting Russian anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems.

The MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles entered the United States Army service in the 1990s. Depending on the version, their range is about 160 kilometres or 300 kilometres. It is worth mentioning that this is not a new solution, and Americans are already introducing its successor, the PrSM.

Nonetheless, Ukrainians are using even older versions of the missiles with great success. The versions primarily in use are those with a cluster warhead designated as M39 and M39A1. The first has a range of 160 kilometres, the second 300 kilometres. The speed of the MGM-140 ATACMS missiles is Mach 3 (approximately 3,700 kilometres per hour), and their flight characteristics have proven to be a huge problem for the Russians, whose anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems struggle against them.

The difference between versions lies in the guidance method and the size of the warhead. The M39 has only inertial navigation guidance and carries 950 M74 APAM bomblets. In contrast, the M39A1 reduced the number of bomblets to 300 in favour of a larger fuel supply and added a satellite navigation module that theoretically provides greater accuracy.

In recent months, Russians have learned to jam GPS signals, causing accuracy degradation by several dozen metres. For the MGM-140 ATACMS missiles, this slightly affects the effectiveness of the M39A1 version, but these manage thanks to their immense destructive power. GPS issues are more noticeable with missiles like the GLSDB or M982 Excalibur artillery shells.

The primary lethal component of the cluster variants of MGM-140 ATACMS missiles is the M74 APAM bomblets, which weigh 0.6 kilograms and have a diameter of 6 centimetres. Their casing is made of tungsten, which causes fragments capable of piercing bulletproof vests to form upon explosion. Additionally, the inside of the bomblets contains incendiary material, generating fires upon detonation. In practice, nothing in the zero zone has a chance of surviving.