Longer range missiles thwart Russian tactics

 Business Insider:

The long-range ATACMS missiles that Ukraine got from the US are putting Russia on the back foot, rendering one of its tactics less effective, an expert told Insider.

The weapon allows Ukraine to strike at great distances, reaching high-value targets like stores of weapons, equipment, and ammunition.

Ukraine said it used ATACMS in attacks on two airfields in Russian-occupied territory earlier this month, destroying Russian ammunition depots and helicopters and damaged the airfields.

Riley Bailey, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Insider that ATACMS has a key an advantage over other long-range weapons Ukraine has, like Storm Shadow missiles from the UK and France and the HIMARS rocket system from the US.

That's because ATACMS sent to Ukraine have cluster munitions instead of unitary warheads. Each one contains bomblets that spread and hit multiple targets with one strike.

This helps Ukraine get around Russia's previous strategy to deal Ukraine's previous long-range attacks, Bailey said.

Russia used to cluster its equipment, which made it vulnerable initially to HIMARS strikes, he said. But it learned its lesson and began spacing them out, making each hit less effective.

"Ukrainian forces were able to conduct strikes on ammunition depots with HIMARS that were very devastating and forced the Russian command to further disperse those ammunition depots," Bailey said.

Russia "learned from previous mistakes" and was trying to ensure "one strike doesn't cause many aviation losses."

But now Ukraine can hit equipment that is spread further apart thanks to the ATACMS cluster munitions.

Ukraine can hit "targets where you need to hit a wide range of targets in one location," said Bailey.
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The longer range also puts Russian logistices further to the rear making it harder to keep troops supplied.