The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) supplied to Ukraine by the US has been “completely ineffective” on the battlefield due to persistent Russian jamming.
This is according to a classified Ukrainian weapons assessment seen by The Washington Post, exposing more flaws in some of America’s most sophisticated weapon systems.
According to the report, Kyiv had to pause or scale back its use of some US-supplied weapons because of targeting issues caused by Moscow’s electronic warfare (EW) capabilities.
One source said the HIMARS sometimes misses its target by more than 50 feet (15 meters).
Apart from the Lockheed Martin missiles, the report said Russian jamming is also rendering the Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells less effective.
“The Excalibur technology in existing versions has lost its potential,” the assessment claimed, disproving the weapon’s “one shot, one target” reputation.
‘No Longer a Difficult Target’
The Russian Ministry of Defense recently claimed that the US-supplied HIMARS rockets are no longer considered a difficult target for the invading forces.
Its Buk-M1 surface-to-air missiles are reportedly capable of taking down the advanced American weapon with “sniper accuracy.”
The missiles are mostly positioned in Donetsk to protect the Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory.
“Its main trump card is its firing accuracy, which leaves no chance to enemy air targets, including Western-made missiles,” the ministry stated.
The Buk-M1 has a striking distance of 100 kilometers (62 miles).