Ukraine has used US-supplied ATACMS ballistic missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time, RBC-Ukraine reported on Tuesday. The successful attack, as reported by RBS-Ukraine, comes after the Kremlin issued a warning against Ukraine and its allies not to use the system, which the Kremlin regards as a major threat. In that context, Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved updates to the country’s nuclear doctrine, expanding the authorization of the use of nuclear weapons to include aggression by a non-nuclear state with the support of a nuclear state. According to sources, today’s attack “was inflicted on an object in the Bryansk region.” The target is located about 130 km from the Ukrainian border.
The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS /əˈtækəmz/) is a supersonic tactical ballistic missile designed over 40 years ago and manufactured by the US defense company Lockheed Martin. It uses solid propellant and is 13 feet (4.0 m) long and 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter, and the longest-range variants can fly up to 190 miles (300 km). The missiles can be fired from the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and the wheeled M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). An ATACMS launch container (pod) has one rocket. It has a small payload of M74 bomblets (M39) or 214 kg (472 lb) WAU-23/B unitary warhead (M48, M57) NN: This will not start a nuclear war. What they forget to tell you is the fact this weapon system has been in the war for over a year. With a restriction it could not be aimed at targets INSIDE RUSSIA . Now they can hit targets in Russia up to 200 miles. Hardly a game changer.