Veteran’s Corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

I hope everyone had a stellar Thanksgiving with family and friends. One of the few Thanksgivings I can recall where a friend or loved one is not deployed. I’m grateful for that.
The Ukrainian war has taken some unique turns. Some months ago I wrote about the British and US giving Ukraine long range missiles. The British had supplied several of their Storm Shadows to Ukraine. We have followed and released about 50 AATACMS to Ukraine. Ukraine launched an offensive a while back and has seized some Russian territory. The AATACMS system was deployed by Ukraine and launched many missiles into Russia.
AATACMS have a range of 190 miles. They can carry a variety of payloads. One large solid explosive payload or bomblets. Cluster bomb is the most used containing bomblets. There are two types. Anti-personnel which contain several hundred pellets, essentially a large shotgun shell. Magnetic or anti-vehicle, which means they lay dormant until a vehicle drives by and sets it off. Normal use would be a mix of each type. Cluster bombs have been internationally criticized as they can stay active and pose danger for many years. Over 300 bomblets are carried in each rocket. Six missiles deploying 1,800 bomblets laying over a great distance or concentrated to a small area. You can imagine the damage and inconvenience this can pose.
I have to wonder about the deployment of the system into Russia. Putin immediately launched several of their similar type of rockets. They also loosened restrictions of deployment of Nuclear weapons. NATO has asked for the next step above Storm Shadow and AATACMS systems. It is the Tomahawk missile to which they speak.
Thinking tactically and strategically it’s puzzling why Ukraine has these capabilities. For reference, tactically means what you’d like to accomplish in a week. Strategic refers to what one would like to accomplish in a month, year etc.
In almost every military conflict conceivable fighting a defensive war as Ukraine is holds a huge advantage. It takes many more men and resources to get the person defending a building out of the building. Attacking inside Russia may galvanize the Russians will to press the fight or push them to deploy more dangerous weapons.
Luring the Russians further into Ukraine and then attacking them with stretched supply lines. It’s not only been proven a solid tactic over hundreds of conflicts to be effective it’s also demoralizing and strips the will to fight.
It’s going to be interesting with the change of leadership. Hopefully peace can be achieved and the Ukraine can go back to be the “bread basket” of Europe.

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