Pentagon’s Immediately Deliver ATACMS Missiles For Ukraine

But there is a condition.

The Army is poised to send Ukraine some of its long-range ATACMS missiles armed with cluster munitions once President Joe Biden approves the transfer.

Doug Bush, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology of the US Army made a statement, Bloomberg reports.

“We are ready to go fast’,” he said, noting that the US Army is prepared for it.

As Bloomberg notes, US lawmakers have been urging Biden for months to send ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems, to Ukraine. People familiar with the matter said last month that the president had finally relented, telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Washington that he was willing to do so.

There are several modifications of the missiles, including those with cluster munitions and conventional warheads. The ATACMS cluster weapons have a range of 25-300 kilometers. The missiles carry from 300 to 950 cluster munitions.

Doug Bush said the US decided on the missiles they were going to deliver. The ATACMS could be launched from the same launchers that Ukraine already uses to launch GPS-guided missiles in batches of six at a time. The only difference is that one ATACMS is to be launched in a salvo from the same launcher.

The modifications needed to convert the launcher "are not that significant, some cables, some software - it's not so crucial," Mr Bush said.

“We are ready when and if the president decides to do this,” he said.

"The US Army is preparing to hand over the first batches soon. These will also be Precision Strike Missiles, the latest longer-range ATACMS modifications. They will ease some concerns about the readiness to supply the ATACMS from the US Army arsenal," Mr Bush told reporters last month. Both manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp.

The ATACMS Cluster Warheads

At the end of September, Newsweek reported that Ukraine would receive the green light in the coming days to receive US-made long-range cluster munition missiles. We are talking about M26, M26A1 and M39 missiles with a range of 36 km, 45 km and 160 km, respectively.

Other Western media previously stated that the issue of transferring long-range ATACMS had moved forward. President Joe Biden informed the leader of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting that the United States would provide a small number of ATACMS missiles, according to NBC News.