The Kremlin has pledged to “retaliate” after reportedly shooting down eight American-made long-range missiles at the start of the new year. According to Russian officials, Ukraine deployed Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs) targeting positions roughly 25 miles north of the border in the Belgorod Oblast. In addition to shooting down these missiles, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that its air defenses also took down six dozen aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Kremlin pledged that Ukraine’s recent barrage, “supported by Western curators, will be met with retaliation.”

Moscow also launched strikes targeting Kyiv in the new year, deploying a total of 81 drones toward Ukrainian territory over the weekend. Ukraine’s Air Force Command noted that Iranian-designed Shahed UAVs were used in this attack.

An overview of ATACMS

While Kyiv’s military leadership had lobbied the U.S. for its ATACMS since Russia’s invasion commenced nearly three years ago, the Biden administration just recently authorized Ukrainian forces to use these missiles to target positions inside Russia in November. These surface-to-surface missiles were designed during the tail end of the Cold War to give soldiers the immediate firepower to “win the deep battle,” as its manufacturer Lockheed Martin likes to say.

ATACMS is packaged in a MLRS launch pod and deployed from the MLRS Family of Launchers. Since its introduction to service, the missile system has undergone several facelifts in order to improve its guidance systems, software and command and control. The current ATACMS weighs just under 4,000 pounds and can fire missiles with a top speed of Mach-3.0 and a flight ceiling of 160,000 feet. The standard variant of ATACMS, Block 1, is used to target high-value assets including SAM sites, airfields, command groups and supply areas. As detailed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, this variant possesses an inertial guidance system that increases the likelihood that the target will be successfully hit. The Block 1A Unitary is a unitary warhead variant of the Block 1A missile, which can use a warhead from the SLAM-ER missile or the AGM-RGM-48 Harpoon. Designed to limit collateral damage when fired, this version can strike targets located 300km away.

Has Kyiv’s use of ATACMS escalated the war?

Equipped with ATACMS and given the green light to strike inside Russian territory, Ukrainian forces have been able to launch more offensive operations since November. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, noted in a statement that the long-range ATACMs proved “that Ukraine can notch battlefield victories when given the right tools.” The senator also added, “Ukraine can put a target on every Russian asset in Crimea, including critical ammunition and fuel depots. Imagine if they had these missiles two years ago.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has remained unambiguous in his declarations that the approval and use of Western-designed long-range missiles into the ongoing Ukraine war would result in “retaliation.” When Donald Trump takes office later this month, Kyiv’s ability to deploy long-range ATACMS may be severed.

Maya Carlin is a National Interest security contributor, an analyst with the Center for Security Policy, and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.