{"id":87753,"date":"2023-01-19T15:19:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T15:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/01\/19\/us-still-holds-back-long-range-atacms-missiles-from-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:39:26","slug":"us-still-holds-back-long-range-atacms-missiles-from-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/01\/19\/us-still-holds-back-long-range-atacms-missiles-from-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"US still holds back long-range ATACMS missiles from Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 The U.S. has decided for now against providing Ukraine with the ATACMS long-range missile system<\/a>, according to a senior Pentagon official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur view is that we think the Ukrainians can change the dynamic on the battlefield and achieve the type of effects they want to push the Russians back without ATACMS,\u201d Colin Kahl,<\/a> the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine has been asking the U.S. for months for the Army Tactical Missile System, a long-range surface-to-surface missile which is fired by the Lockheed Martin-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System<\/a>, or HIMARS. Though truck-mounted launchers have been critical for Ukraine, the U.S. has held back the longer range missiles which would let Ukraine to hit Russian targets nearly 200 miles away, fearing it would escalate the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur judgement to date is the juice isn\u2019t really worth the squeeze on ATACMS. You never know, that judgement at some point might change, but we\u2019re really not there yet,\u201d Kahl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe think there are other capabilities that can enable the Ukrainians to service targets that they need to,\u201d Kahl said, adding that other long-range systems from the Pentagon give Ukraine \u201cstrike potential in the coming phase of the conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Kahl, those include long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, Joint Direct Attack Munition kits that turn air-to-surface bombs into precision weapons, and thousands of 50-mile-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems \u2015 which the Ukrainians have fired from U.S.-supplied HIMARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the U.S. has denied Ukraine some capabilities, \u201cI think our track record of partnership is pretty good. On the ATACMS issue, I think we\u2019re at \u2018agree to disagree,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked whether the Biden administration\u2019s refusal to provide ATACMS is driven by a fear Ukraine would use them to strike Russian territory, Kahl said it remains U.S. policy not to enable such strikes. Still, Kahl noted that the U.S. considers the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed after its 2014 invasion, part of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClearly the Russians are also attacking the rest of Ukrainian territory from Crimea, so we\u2019ve never argued that Crimea is off limits for the Ukrainians to decide how they want to hold targets at risk in Crimea,\u201d Kahl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t