The United States last week secretly shipped a new long-range missile system to Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces immediately used the weapons to attack a Russian military airfield in Crimea last Wednesday and Russian troops in the country’s southeast overnight on Tuesday, according to a senior U.S. official.
The United States previously supplied Ukraine with a version of the Army Tactical Missile Systems — known as ATACMS — armed with wide-spreading cluster munitions that can travel 100 miles.
But Ukraine has long coveted the system’s longer-range version, with a range of about 190 miles. That can reach deeper into occupied Ukraine, including Crimea, a hub of Russian air and ground forces, and supply nodes for Moscow’s forces in the country’s southeast.
Overnight Tuesday, Ukraine used the longer-range missiles to strike Russian troops in the port city of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov, the senior U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
If anything, Russia’s embarrassingly bad military supply chain being exposed in this war reinforces the long held US policy to find every excuse to spend on continued military production.
Our manufacturers have stayed active as a result of the ongoing military industrial complex. Our ever rotating stockpile of military goods have kept our equipment modern and in good position, and our manufacturers ready to mass produce if we find ourselves in need.
I have been highly critical of wasteful military spending. But I have to admit that recent events have highlighted the value in our approach. It’s still extremely wasteful, and our old military supply that gets phased out and sold off / gifted to police and foreign vassels do a world of damage. But if your goal is to be as ready for war as possible, it makes a lot of sense.
Oh boy, Until Russia attacked Ukraine, I thought we were past the times where it was necessary too. Unfortunately I was wrong, but what’s worse, is that when looking back, it’s actually pretty clear that Putin was like this, with Crimea and other situations that easily added up to Putin being a war monger.
But what’s even worse than this is that I see some similar tendencies from China. NATO really needs to stick together now, and Europe is beginning to step up to our responsibilities more now.