US to send more HIMARS precision rockets to Ukraine

WASHINGTON — The United States is sending to Ukraine up to $400 million in additional military equipment and supplies , including four more medium-range rocket systems and ammunition, as the embattled nation tries to repel Russia’s advances in the Donbas region.

The four additional M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS , will bring the total number sent to Ukraine to a dozen, a senior defense official told reporters in a briefing Friday. The official said the first eight HIMARS were particularly useful for Ukraine, as the fight in the Donbas has largely evolved into an artillery duel. The official refuted Russian reports that two of the delivered HIMARS were destroyed, and said all eight are accounted for and still in use by Ukraine.

The military equipment being drawn down from U.S. stockpiles and sent to Ukraine also includes three tactical vehicles, demolition munitions, counter-battery systems and spare parts, among other equipment, so Ukraine can repair and maintain other systems that allies have sent in recent months.

The shipment will also include 1,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition, which the defense official described as a precision-guided type that would allow the Ukrainian military to better hit specific targets, which would save ammunition. The official would not confirm whether these shells will be the guided Excalibur artillery rounds, but said they have not been part of previous security assistance packages to Ukraine.

HIMARS is a light, wheeled multiple rocket launcher, which Pentagon officials previously said was a “top priority” request by Ukraine. The U.S. undersecretary for defense for policy, Colin Kahl, told reporters last month that HIMARS allows Ukrainian forces to strike targets with greater range and precision than other artillery weapons that were sent.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally promised only to use HIMARS for defensive purposes and to avoid firing into Russian territory; this took place before the U.S. agreed to provide the systems in order to avoid escalating the conflict.

The defense official said Russian claims HIMARS were used in strikes outside of Ukrainian territory are false, and that Russian forces, capabilities and logistics nodes within Ukraine are “absolutely fair targets.”

The official said the weekslong process to train Ukrainian troops on how to use the high-end HIMARS platform has been a limiting factor, and is why they were delivered in batches of four at a time. The official said efforts to train more Ukrainians on HIMARS will continue, but would not say how many have so far been trained.

The official said the HIMARS would arrive on the battlefield “rapidly,” but would not say how long their deployment might take.

The official said Russian forces are making “very incremental, limited, hard-fought, highly costly progress” in some parts of Donbas, and that they are far behind their timelines and objectives. The official would not specify where Russian forces are believed to have been disrupted, but said they are behind the front lines in Donbas.

Ukrainian forces are launching effective counteroffenses, the official said, and in the last week have started to use HIMARS strikes to seriously disrupt Russia’s ability to gain ground.

“We don’t see this at all as Russia winning this battle,” the official said. “Certainly they’re not winning it relative to their initial objectives. They’ve been very much thwarted, but the fighting is hard.”

The U.S. has been talking with allies and partners about other systems that could be sent to Ukraine, such as coastal defense capabilities, to move the nation away from Soviet legacy systems.

While Ukraine has received a great deal of equipment from the U.S. and other partner nations, the official said, its military has been using it at such an intense pace that forces need resources to repair and sustain those systems.

Providing this ability also sends Russia an important signal that Ukraine will be able to continue the fight, the official said.

“If the Russians think they can outlast the Ukrainians, they need to rethink that,” the official said. “We are already pivoting towards thinking about what the Ukrainians will need in the months and years ahead.”

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

华盛顿——美国正向乌克兰提供价值高达 4 亿美元的额外军事装备和物资，其中包括四套中程火箭系统和弹药，以帮助这个饱受战火蹂躏的国家抵御俄罗斯在顿巴斯地区的推进。

一位高级国防官员周五在新闻发布会上告诉记者，新增的四套M142高机动性火箭炮系统（HIMARS）将使交付给乌克兰的HIMARS总数达到十二套。这位官员表示，前八套HIMARS对乌克兰尤为重要，因为顿巴斯地区的战斗已基本演变为炮战。该官员驳斥了俄罗斯方面关于两套已交付HIMARS被摧毁的报道，并表示所有八套HIMARS均已清点完毕，目前仍在乌克兰使用。

从美国库存中取出并送往乌克兰的军事装备还包括三辆战术车辆、爆破弹药、反炮兵系统和备件等，以便乌克兰能够维修和维护盟友近几个月来送来的其他系统。

这批物资还将包括1000发155毫米炮弹，这位国防官员称其为精确制导炮弹，能够帮助乌克兰军队更精准地打击特定目标，从而节省弹药。该官员并未确认这些炮弹是否为“神剑”（Excalibur）制导炮弹，但表示此前对乌克兰的安全援助物资中并未包含此类炮弹。

HIMARS是一种轻型轮式多管火箭炮，五角大楼官员此前曾表示，乌克兰将其列为“首要”需求。美国国防部负责政策的副部长科林·卡尔上个月告诉记者，HIMARS可以让乌克兰军队比其他已派出的火炮武器拥有更远的射程和更高的打击精度。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基正式承诺只会将HIMARS用于防御目的，并且不会向俄罗斯领土开火；这是在美国同意提供该系统以避免冲突升级之前做出的承诺。

这位国防官员表示，俄罗斯声称在乌克兰境外使用HIMARS导弹进行打击的说法是错误的，并称俄罗斯在乌克兰境内的部队、能力和后勤节点是“绝对合理的打击目标”。

这位官员表示，对乌克兰部队进行高端HIMARS平台使用培训需要数周时间，这是一个限制因素，因此这些平台只能分批交付，每次四套。该官员表示，将继续努力培训更多乌克兰士兵使用HIMARS平台，但拒绝透露目前已完成培训的人数。

该官员表示，HIMARS导弹系统将“迅速”抵达战场，但没有透露部署可能需要多长时间。

这位官员表示，俄军在顿巴斯部分地区取得的进展“非常缓慢、有限、艰苦卓绝且代价高昂”，远远落后于原定的时间表和目标。该官员没有具体说明俄军据信在哪些地方遭遇挫折，但表示他们已被调往顿巴斯前线后方。

这位官员表示，乌克兰军队正在发起有效的反攻，并且在过去一周开始使用HIMARS导弹进行打击，严重破坏了俄罗斯夺取阵地的能力。

“我们完全不认为俄罗斯赢得了这场战斗，”这位官员说。“当然，就他们最初的目标而言，他们并没有取得胜利。他们的计划受到了很大的挫败，但战斗非常艰苦。”

美国一直在与盟友和伙伴讨论可以向乌克兰输送的其他系统，例如海岸防御能力，以使该国摆脱苏联遗留的系统。

这位官员表示，虽然乌克兰从美国和其他伙伴国家获得了大量装备，但其军队使用这些装备的速度非常快，因此部队需要资源来维修和维护这些系统。

这位官员表示，赋予乌克兰这种能力也向俄罗斯发出了一个重要信号，即乌克兰将能够继续战斗。

这位官员说：“如果俄罗斯人认为他们能比乌克兰人坚持得更久，那他们需要重新考虑一下。我们已经开始转变思路，思考乌克兰人在未来几个月甚至几年内需要什么。”

斯蒂芬·洛西是《防务新闻》的空战记者。他此前曾在《空军时报》报道领导层和人事问题，并在Military.com网站报道五角大楼、特种作战和空战。他曾前往中东报道美国空军的行动。