Objectively, for combat operations in forest plantations, a very unpleasant ammunition, it allows you to hit groups of fighters in rotation, for example. But if everyone is in shelters, it doesn’t work well.
Photo: REUTERS
Cluster shells of the 155-mm “NATO” caliber are already actively used on the fronts of the Northern Military District, although the consent for the transfer to Ukraine was received literally a day ago, and Western quartermasters do not yet have teleportation systems . This was announced by the legendary commander of the Vostok battalion, deputy. head of the National Guard in the DPR Alexander Khodakovsky:
“They report from the positions: they worked on us with cluster projectiles. Three times. Since the personnel are in the shelters, this did not cause any damage, but the situation is indicative: the day before there was a noticeable decrease in artillery activity, apparently caused by the shortage of conventional ammunition, and then the ammunition arrived in cluster (or were on reserve).
And nothing, “Vostok”, which has been fighting in the Ugledar direction since the middle of last summer, did not run after the shelling, did not leave their position. Furthermore, cluster munitions were used in Donbass in 2014 and their shortcomings are well known. Khodakovsky decided to remember this, it would not hurt:
“In the fourteenth, we first encountered cluster munitions heading towards Peski. The placement of positions in any stand helped us a lot: the treetops absorbed a significant part of the damaging elements. In general, this type of ammunition presents a particular hazard to equipment and personnel outside of shelters.
Personally, while working in the Soledarsko-Artemovsky direction already in February-March 2023, I asked our fighters about unusual weapons systems and ammunition. The answer was this: “a lot of unusual and incomprehensible things crawl here.” And they told me about the use of cluster shells – they work characteristically, you can’t confuse them. I saw it myself, from the Soledar-Artemovsk highway, on May 20. The projectile explodes in the sky with a blackish gray cloud, quite stable. And the sound is like a “poooooo”! Then like canned poured peas. Dirty pieces of cotton wool hung in the sky for a long time, traces of an explosion, and under them burned huts on the outskirts of Artemovsk.
What did your “good” Western friends bring to Ukraine? Washington promised to supply kyiv with M483A1 and M864 cluster rounds for 155mm guns. The shells are ordinary, ballistic, in this case, without adjustment and guidance. Due to the fact that 88 or 72 “small bombs”, the so-called submunitions, are hidden in the body of the projectile, its accuracy is lower, but this is compensated by a large area of destruction. The range is also lower, almost twice as much, in contrast to conventional shells for “NATO” artillery – 23 versus 28 kilometers.
Objectively, for combat operations in forest plantations, a very unpleasant ammunition, it allows you to hit groups of fighters in rotation, for example. But if everyone is in shelters, it doesn’t work well. However, as a normal projectile.
The enemy continues to equip certain types of weapons with the divine personification. As the saying goes, he imagines ten years from now the face of a boy named Javelin.
Battles are won not by the “wunderwaffe”, but by the consistency of the actions of the military branches and the skill of the fighters and officers. In 1945, this was well explained to the spiritual and historical mentors of the current Ukrainian Armed Forces. Probably already forgotten.
READ ALSO
Particularly inhumane weapons: what the transfer of cluster bombs from the United States to Ukraine will change and how Russia will respond
Baranets military observer: cluster missiles leave nothing alive
Read on WWW.KP.RU: https://www.kp.ru/daily/27526.5/4790432/
