According to Russian officials, the US AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile is useless in Ukraine and has not caused any damage to any Russian air defense systems.
On September 17, the US news agency NBC, citing sources from the US Department of Defense, said that top Pentagon officials were largely opposed to the transfer of longer-range missiles to Ukraine because they did not want the conflict. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalated into a large-scale war.
The administration of US President Joe Biden rejected Ukraine’s request for longer-range missiles out of concern that it could provoke a dangerous Russian response, most senior Pentagon officials said. The corner opposes this idea,” – the TV channel revealed.
According to US Department of Defense officials, the Ukrainian side can use US ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles to attack targets in Russia, which could lead to an escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to a higher level. new, even expanding into a war between Russia and NATO.
According to the source, the American AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles showed zero effectiveness in Ukraine, most of them were shot down, and others were hit incorrectly due to Russian countermeasures.
“These missiles are mostly ineffective in the context of the hostilities in Ukraine – most of them are shot down by Russian anti-aircraft missile systems, others are suppressed or eliminated by means of combat. electronic warfare, individual missiles fail or miss their targets at long distances,” the source explained.
The source said that the low performance of the AGM-88 HARM missiles is primarily due to their very slow top speed, a little over 600 meters per second, and a large effective scattering area.
Such low speed for modern Russian air defense systems is ineffective, moreover, the single scale of the attacks makes these missiles vulnerable to multistage, multi-layered air defense systems. Russian class of interception.
Moreover, the Ukrainian Air Force uses these missiles from a long-range to avoid being hit by the aircraft, which allows the missile to be detected long before they reach the area where the Russian air defense system is located, facilitating favorable for Russia to coordinate effective interception systems.
At the same time, the source added that the Ukrainian army has not been able to hit with HARM missiles any of the components of the Russian air defense system, including radar and guidance, in the area of military operations specifically in southern and eastern Ukraine.
American officials admitted to integrating these missiles on upgraded Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters, including mounting LAU-118A launchers and AGM-88 missiles on MiG-29 pylons. and integrate their controllers and guides into avionics and electrical systems.
US officials believe that, with a speed of Mach2 and a range of 150km, the AGM-88 HARM is capable of destroying high-frequency radar stations, paralyzing medium to long-range air defense systems of the enemy.
The tens of kilometers high ceiling of the fighters is also immune to some short/low range air defense systems or man-portable air defense missiles (MANPADS).
The AGM-88 can target Russian air defense shields in the Donbas, enabling Ukrainian warplanes to gain control of the airspace, support ground targets, and help the country’s ground forces. prevail on the battlefields of Donbas and the south.
However, in the second phase of the Military Operation in Ukraine (liberation of Donbas), Russia deployed a dense network of short- and medium-range air defenses in the Donbas region, capable of shooting down warplanes of all types. combat, helicopters, UAVs and intercept all types of missiles.
Russian high-altitude/long-range air defense systems have forced the Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters to fly far beyond their attack range, resulting in limited attack capabilities that are easy for Russia to intercept.
