HIMARS MRLS Vital to 37-Hr Operation to Liberate Kherson: Report

The crews of U.S.-made M142 HIMARS light multiple rocket launcher worked continuously for 37 hours during Ukraine’s operation to push back the Russians from Kherson province it annexed last week.

A Ukrainian officer told the Wall Street Journal that four M142 MLRS managed to hit 120 targets throughout the day and a half without any break. This allowed breaking the line of Russian defense in the Kherson region and reaching new frontiers.

One of the HIMARS featured in the article had images of 69 skulls painted on board, each symbolizing a confirmed hit on the target. The vehicle’s odometer recorded 21,000km.

It took HIMARS crews just 30 seconds to launch the rocket. Reloading of the missiles in practice takes up to 5 minutes, the report said.

The vehicles are constantly in motion and have not returned to their respective military unit bases for several months.

No HIMARS destroyed by Russia?

Ukraine’s military told the agency that the Russians have not struck even a single HIMARS system. Kyiv has 16 HIMARS systems that are protected by Special Operations Forces and air defense units.

Moscow has regularly asserted that it had destroyed multiple HIMARS systems, but none of these claims have been independently verified.

Even in the first week of September, the Russian defense ministry claimed to have destroyed two Ukrainian HIMARS rocket launchers in Kharkiv.

During a regular press briefing in September, Igor Konashenkov, a Russian MoD spokesman, was seen standing with a map in the background which stated that “44 HIMARS” systems were eliminated. The figure is roughly three times the number of launchers the U.S. has officially delivered to Ukraine.

In addition, the military told WSJ that the M142 operators became more cautious after the appearance of Iranian kamikaze drones in the Russian Armed Forces. The Ukrainian officer shared that in recent weeks, they have twice decided not to enter the strike position as they received information about the proximity of enemy UAVs.

Ukraine is expecting to receive four more HIMARS systems from U.S. Army’s reserves. Another 18 will be produced from scratch by the American defense industry for the Armed Forces in the future.