Despite the pressure from Congress and from the Kiev regime, Biden is still “holding firm” on his refusal to send ATACMS, the 190-mile range Army Tactical Missile System missiles, to Ukraine, reports the Washington Post. The Post indicates that there are two reasons, one is the military assessment that Ukrainian forces don’t really need the ATACMS, and secondly, there’s not enough of them to spare anyway. The Pentagon believes that Kyiv has other, more urgent needs than ATACMS, and worries that sending enough to Ukraine to make a difference on the battlefield would severely undercut U.S. readiness for other possible conflicts, the Post reports. The number of ATACMS in American stockpiles is fixed, awaiting replacement with the next generation, longer-range Precision Strike Missile, called the Prism, for PrSM, which is expected to enter service by the end of this year, officials said. Lockheed Martin still manufactures 500 ATACMS each year, but all of that production is destined for sale to other countries.
Asked at the Aspen Security Forum on July 20 what is at the top of Ukraine’s list of security needs, Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office, said: “My answer will be very simple. At this point, it’s very clear and understandable. We need and are waiting for decisions on ATACMS.” Colin Kahl, the now former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, told the same forum that Ukraine already has long range strike capabilities in the form of the Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles. “The problem is not a hundred kilometers away, it’s one kilometer in front of them with the minefields” the Russians have laid, along with rows of trenches and tank traps, in defensive lines along the 600-mile front line,” Kahl said.
