By Rohit Srivastava

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American M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) were dubbed as the weapon that would win war for Ukraine. Two years later, the war is still going on and Ukrainian success is as far as it was when HIMARS arrived on the battle field in June 2022. HIMARS were expected to make summer hot for Russians. This has been the most repeated narrative whenever a new weapon system is about to arrive in Ukraine, be it Turkish TB2, German Leopard Tank or French SCALP-EG deep-strike air-launched weapon. Russian counter measures ensured they fail to live up to their fame.

In a recent incidence, Russian latest long-range air-defence missile system S-350 ‘Vityaz’ (Brave Warrior), which is expected to replace S-300, has intercepted dozen or so HIMARS rockets by the ‘Yug’ group of Russian forces, according Russian media.

“Not long ago we worked on a large pack of HIMARS MLRS, there were about 12-16 targets, this system fared successfully, none of the targets (MLRS missiles) reached their point, and accordingly the complex had no difficulty both in detecting and picking off the pack,\" the commander of anti-aircraft missile division of Yug battle group told Sputnik. The interception was done at the range of 70 km after locking at the range of 90 km.

\"The automatic mode of this complex works perfectly. Not a single unnecessary missile was launched in this mode. All missiles have reached their targets,\" the officer added.

The official statement has come with an official video by Russian ministry of defence on its telegram channel. The video shows Pantsir-S1 and S-350 SAM system crews are on joint combat alert duty in Donetsk region.

Prone to EW

On May 24, in a report United State’s leading news paper Wall Street Journal accepted the effectiveness of Russian electronic warfare systems in jamming the western guided weapon systems.

Quoting Ukrainian confidential assessment, the paper informs that the western satellite-guided weapon systems “failed to withstand Russian jamming technology” leading to Ukraine to stop some of them when their effectiveness plummeted. The weapon list included American Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and HIMARS.

The report informs that the effectiveness of Excalibur was reduced to not more than 10 per cent and “existing version has lost its potential.” Russian jamming makes the HIMARS rockets to miss targets by 50 feet or more. To maintain efficiency of the HIMARS, “The Americans are equipping HIMARS with additional equipment to ensure good geolocation.”

First AI Interception

In May last year, the S-350 ‘Vityaz’ intercepted a Ukrainian aircraft all by itself without a man-in-the-loop with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence. After the AI- assisted kill by Turkish armed drone in Libya, this is another case of AI- assisted weapon launch. Detailed story on AI interception can be read at IDI here.

The S-350 is the most recently developed SAM system of the Russian forces. In May 2019, Russian armed forces inducted the S-350 in its arsenal. Based on the S-300PS, the Vityaz, armed with 9M96E/E2 missiles, is capable of intercepting aerial targets in all direction up to 120km. It is designed to intercept, tactical and strategic aircraft, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems and all other kinds of aerial threats. It can also intercept tactical ballistic missiles.

S-350 Specifications

Engagement range (max / min):
aerodynamic targets:	120 / 2.5 km
ballistic targets :	25/5 km
Engagement altitude (max / min):
aerodynamic targets:	25 / 0.01 km
ballistic targets :	20/2 km
Maximum speed of engaged targets:	2000 m / s
Maximum quantity of simultaneously:
engaged aerodynamic targets :	16
engaged ballistic targets:	12
guided missiles at aerodynamic targets:	32