U.S. Secretly Modified HIMARS To Prevent Ukraine From Firing At Russia - The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. has secretly modified the high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) it transferred to Ukraine so that they cannot be used to fire long-range missiles at Russia. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, December 5, with reference to U.S. officials.

The publication writes that the administration of the U.S. President deliberately provided Ukraine with modified missile complexes as a precautionary measure, which reduces the risk of a large-scale war with Russia. Since June, the U.S. has supplied Ukrainian forces with 20 launchers of the high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and a large inventory of satellite-guided missiles with a range of nearly 50 miles (80.47 km).

"But the HIMARS launchers have a unique feature that prevents them from becoming even more powerful combat systems. U.S. officials say the Pentagon has modified the launchers so they cannot launch long-range missiles, including the U.S. Army's tactical missile system, or ATACMS, missiles, the range of which is almost 200 miles (321.87 km)," the message said.

HIMARS systems were used by the Ukrainian military to attack Russian warehouses with ammunition, logistics facilities and command centers on the territory of Ukraine, WSJ reminds.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on October 28, the Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian air defense forces were never able to intercept shells from HIMARS systems.

On September 8, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Mark Milley, stated that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to influence the Russian army by using high mobility artillery rocket systems HIMARS and their analogues.

On August 17, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had not lost a single HIMARS complex since they were received from the United States.

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