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Long-range rockets armed with cluster munitions are the key to unlocking Russia's formidable network of defenses, according to a former American adviser to Ukraine's commander-in-chief.
Dan Rice, a former U.S. Army officer and West Point graduate, was influential in the White House's July decision to send 155mm, tube-fired dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) to Ukraine while serving as a special adviser to Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhnyi.
Now Rice is pushing to expand Ukraine's cluster munitions arsenal, urging U.S. lawmakers to approve the transfer of M26 DCIPM rockets to be fired from Kyiv's fleet of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems—colloquially known as HIMARS.
"If you get 2,000 cluster rockets, I think the war will be over," Rice—who is now the president of the American University Kyiv—told Newsweek. "It's that simple."
The rockets, Rice said, will allow Ukrainian troops to hunt Russian artillery pieces—the battlefield's biggest killers that constantly harass Ukrainian units trying to break through Russian defenses—out to 45 kilometers (28 miles), further than the 25 kilometers (15 miles) attainable by the 155mm DCPIM rounds in service since July.
"Frontline battalions of the Russians are going to be wiped out, and the rear echelon is going to be wiped out," Rice said. "We have tens of thousands of these cluster rockets in Germany sitting around, waiting to be destroyed. Instead of destroying them, just give them to the Ukrainians. And they'll win the war."
Asked to comment on further DCIPM discussions, the White House referred Newsweek to the Pentagon, which declined to comment.
"If you're a Ukrainian force trying to breach a two-mile minefield, you're going 'meter by meter'," Rice explained. "You have thousands of Russian cannons that are firing all the time. You're under fire trying to breach the minefield and the mines are taking out stuff, the Russian suicide drones are taking out stuff. And then you have the Russian artillery coming in. You have to at least clear the artillery."
"The way the math works is that if both sides have the same artillery range, when you're on the offensive you can't reach the defensive...The offensive artillery has to either be longer range, or it has to be right on the front line. And you're not going to put your artillery on the front line because then you're going to lose this valuable artillery."
Rice said HIMARS DCIPM rockets could even the score. "It could be there tomorrow," he said. "There is no training required. They are fired from the HIMARS and the M270 multiple-launch rocket systems that [the Ukrainians] have and have used so effectively with solid projectiles. This would just be giving them cluster projectiles."
"I feel for these Ukrainian soldiers that aren't being given the right ammunition," Rice said, recalling battlefield conversations with Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Donbas, who he said were not even aware of DCIPM.
"As an American Army officer, I would never be in combat without DPICM. Never. I'd be calling that in first thing. And if a commander was ordered to fight without it, they would call it an illegal order and they would have to resign, because you're not giving the American soldiers the stuff they need."
"When Russian artillery is the number one killer of your people, it becomes your number one target," he said. "So, we gave Ukraine the right radars to pick up the Russian cannons firing. We also gave them HARM anti-radar missiles to go after the Russian radars, so after all of this fighting, the Russians are kind of 'blind.'"
"The Ukrainians are very good at picking up counter-battery fire—basically, seeing a Russian cannon go off on radar, and getting Ukrainians rounds firing back immediately with precise fires. But if you're firing one simple solid projectile 25 kilometers (15 miles), your chances of taking out that enemy tube are very little. But if you're firing DPICM cluster munitions your chances increase 88 times."
"When we were giving them high explosive artillery rounds, you're firing one round of a howitzer gun that's landing, and it's a big boom. But if you're in a big trench line—a zig-zag trench line—unless it lands right on your head, your ears are going to be ringing but you're not going die."
"If you fire that same round and it burst overhead and 88 submunitions go down, you have 88 times the firepower and chances of killing Russians. So that's why DPICM artillery shells have already been a gamechanger. It's already changed the way the Ukrainians are deciding whether to go forward and for the Russians what they're going to do in the defense."
DCIPM rockets, Rice said, would be even more deadly, dropping 512 or 644 submunitions versus the 88 from the shells.
Under greater pressure, Russian gunners are having to fire less and faster, undermining the volume and accuracy of shots, Rice said. "That's why Russian artillery outbound has been much less, in addition to the fact we're going after the command-and-control and supply."
"Now every single Ukrainian gun is going to have DPICM. So, the Russian front lines are really going to light up."
"Congress is talking out of both sides of its mouth," he said. "We approved cluster munitions for the artillery shells. The rockets have the same exact submunition but we're not going to approve the rockets. That's just hypocrisy."
The White House faced bipartisan criticism to provide the 155mm DCIPM, spending significant political capital to dismiss assertions that their provision was an immoral escalation that would exacerbate Ukraine's unexploded munitions problem, and undermine American global standing.
Rice dismissed concerns that more cluster bombs mean more explosives left behind. "We'll be able to map every single time [Ukraine fires] cluster munitions so that we can clean it up, as opposed to the Russian stuff. The Russians are throwing mines anywhere, they're throwing explosives. They're destroying the country. If they can't own it, they'll destroy it."
"The U.S. is withholding weapons because we think we're protecting future generations of Ukrainians," Rice said. "Meanwhile, we're sacrificing the current generation because we're not giving them the right ammo."
Concerns over escalation—shared by the U.S. and some of its NATO allies—have often stymied Ukraine's hopes for advanced weapons. It took a year to secure NATO commitments on tanks, and Kyiv is still waiting for fighter jets and the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System—the ATACMS.
"I think the State Department's concern about escalation has been the 'brakes' for most weapon systems, they always claim their fear of escalation," Rice said, suggesting the White House's hesitance to supply ATACMS is out of fear Kyiv will use the long-range missiles to destroy the Kerch Strait Bridge.
Skeptics of supporting Ukraine are also using ballooning aid as a stick with which to beat the White House. Rice, though, noted that the DCIPM in question is waiting in warehouses to be destroyed by the U.S. government.
"If someone in Congress brings up a concern about the war costing the U.S. taxpayer too much and they haven't approved giving Ukraine the cluster rockets, they are oblivious," he said. "They can't have it both ways." You're not giving the most powerful weapon in our artillery arsenal. It's conventional and it's free."
"We're up against a timetable that is horrible. It's a political timetable within both the U.S. and Ukraine. It's a weather timetable that no offensive actions will likely take place between October and June."
"And so, you're almost guaranteeing that if you don't give them the right weapons now, and I mean in the next couple of weeks, we're going to be in a frozen conflict. Then you're going to get all the appeasers coming out, politicians are going to try to make their name standing up against Ukraine."
"I'm sensing a growing resentment against the West within Ukraine, and I've been there since the beginning," Rice said.
"The fate of a nation boils down to a few weapons systems, and a keystroke in Washington can save tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives and free millions of oppressed people. All it takes is a political decision...All you need at this point, in my opinion, are ATACMS and—most importantly—the DPICM HIMARS rockets."
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-ga...-munitions-counteroffensive-artillery-1820071
Dan Rice, a former U.S. Army officer and West Point graduate, was influential in the White House's July decision to send 155mm, tube-fired dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) to Ukraine while serving as a special adviser to Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhnyi.
Now Rice is pushing to expand Ukraine's cluster munitions arsenal, urging U.S. lawmakers to approve the transfer of M26 DCIPM rockets to be fired from Kyiv's fleet of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems—colloquially known as HIMARS.
"If you get 2,000 cluster rockets, I think the war will be over," Rice—who is now the president of the American University Kyiv—told Newsweek. "It's that simple."
The rockets, Rice said, will allow Ukrainian troops to hunt Russian artillery pieces—the battlefield's biggest killers that constantly harass Ukrainian units trying to break through Russian defenses—out to 45 kilometers (28 miles), further than the 25 kilometers (15 miles) attainable by the 155mm DCPIM rounds in service since July.
"Frontline battalions of the Russians are going to be wiped out, and the rear echelon is going to be wiped out," Rice said. "We have tens of thousands of these cluster rockets in Germany sitting around, waiting to be destroyed. Instead of destroying them, just give them to the Ukrainians. And they'll win the war."
Asked to comment on further DCIPM discussions, the White House referred Newsweek to the Pentagon, which declined to comment.
'Meter by Meter'
Russian artillery—traditionally known as its "god of war"—is the backbone of Moscow's full-scale invasion. Russia's armed forces have proved archaic, but still capable of massing extreme destructive power. Ukrainian counterattack forces now seeking weak spots in Russia's defensive lines are doing so under withering fire."If you're a Ukrainian force trying to breach a two-mile minefield, you're going 'meter by meter'," Rice explained. "You have thousands of Russian cannons that are firing all the time. You're under fire trying to breach the minefield and the mines are taking out stuff, the Russian suicide drones are taking out stuff. And then you have the Russian artillery coming in. You have to at least clear the artillery."
"The way the math works is that if both sides have the same artillery range, when you're on the offensive you can't reach the defensive...The offensive artillery has to either be longer range, or it has to be right on the front line. And you're not going to put your artillery on the front line because then you're going to lose this valuable artillery."
Rice said HIMARS DCIPM rockets could even the score. "It could be there tomorrow," he said. "There is no training required. They are fired from the HIMARS and the M270 multiple-launch rocket systems that [the Ukrainians] have and have used so effectively with solid projectiles. This would just be giving them cluster projectiles."
"I feel for these Ukrainian soldiers that aren't being given the right ammunition," Rice said, recalling battlefield conversations with Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the Donbas, who he said were not even aware of DCIPM.
"As an American Army officer, I would never be in combat without DPICM. Never. I'd be calling that in first thing. And if a commander was ordered to fight without it, they would call it an illegal order and they would have to resign, because you're not giving the American soldiers the stuff they need."
Muting the 'God of War'
Rice lauded the impact of the 155mm tube-fired DCIPM shells already in service, citing the uptick in destroyed Russian guns as evidence of their success. Each shell blankets a target with 88 smaller submunitions rather than one large explosive charge, giving the shells a wider area of destruction."When Russian artillery is the number one killer of your people, it becomes your number one target," he said. "So, we gave Ukraine the right radars to pick up the Russian cannons firing. We also gave them HARM anti-radar missiles to go after the Russian radars, so after all of this fighting, the Russians are kind of 'blind.'"
"The Ukrainians are very good at picking up counter-battery fire—basically, seeing a Russian cannon go off on radar, and getting Ukrainians rounds firing back immediately with precise fires. But if you're firing one simple solid projectile 25 kilometers (15 miles), your chances of taking out that enemy tube are very little. But if you're firing DPICM cluster munitions your chances increase 88 times."
"When we were giving them high explosive artillery rounds, you're firing one round of a howitzer gun that's landing, and it's a big boom. But if you're in a big trench line—a zig-zag trench line—unless it lands right on your head, your ears are going to be ringing but you're not going die."
"If you fire that same round and it burst overhead and 88 submunitions go down, you have 88 times the firepower and chances of killing Russians. So that's why DPICM artillery shells have already been a gamechanger. It's already changed the way the Ukrainians are deciding whether to go forward and for the Russians what they're going to do in the defense."
DCIPM rockets, Rice said, would be even more deadly, dropping 512 or 644 submunitions versus the 88 from the shells.
Under greater pressure, Russian gunners are having to fire less and faster, undermining the volume and accuracy of shots, Rice said. "That's why Russian artillery outbound has been much less, in addition to the fact we're going after the command-and-control and supply."
"Now every single Ukrainian gun is going to have DPICM. So, the Russian front lines are really going to light up."
American 'Hypocrisy'
Rice decried American opposition to providing the longer-range HIMARS cluster munitions. The request for the shell and rocket DCIPM were made at the same time more than a year ago, he added. "It's only now—18 months into the war—that we are finally giving Ukraine the ammunition that they should have had from the beginning: cluster munitions.""Congress is talking out of both sides of its mouth," he said. "We approved cluster munitions for the artillery shells. The rockets have the same exact submunition but we're not going to approve the rockets. That's just hypocrisy."
The White House faced bipartisan criticism to provide the 155mm DCIPM, spending significant political capital to dismiss assertions that their provision was an immoral escalation that would exacerbate Ukraine's unexploded munitions problem, and undermine American global standing.
Rice dismissed concerns that more cluster bombs mean more explosives left behind. "We'll be able to map every single time [Ukraine fires] cluster munitions so that we can clean it up, as opposed to the Russian stuff. The Russians are throwing mines anywhere, they're throwing explosives. They're destroying the country. If they can't own it, they'll destroy it."
"The U.S. is withholding weapons because we think we're protecting future generations of Ukrainians," Rice said. "Meanwhile, we're sacrificing the current generation because we're not giving them the right ammo."
Concerns over escalation—shared by the U.S. and some of its NATO allies—have often stymied Ukraine's hopes for advanced weapons. It took a year to secure NATO commitments on tanks, and Kyiv is still waiting for fighter jets and the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System—the ATACMS.
"I think the State Department's concern about escalation has been the 'brakes' for most weapon systems, they always claim their fear of escalation," Rice said, suggesting the White House's hesitance to supply ATACMS is out of fear Kyiv will use the long-range missiles to destroy the Kerch Strait Bridge.
Skeptics of supporting Ukraine are also using ballooning aid as a stick with which to beat the White House. Rice, though, noted that the DCIPM in question is waiting in warehouses to be destroyed by the U.S. government.
"If someone in Congress brings up a concern about the war costing the U.S. taxpayer too much and they haven't approved giving Ukraine the cluster rockets, they are oblivious," he said. "They can't have it both ways." You're not giving the most powerful weapon in our artillery arsenal. It's conventional and it's free."
"We're up against a timetable that is horrible. It's a political timetable within both the U.S. and Ukraine. It's a weather timetable that no offensive actions will likely take place between October and June."
"And so, you're almost guaranteeing that if you don't give them the right weapons now, and I mean in the next couple of weeks, we're going to be in a frozen conflict. Then you're going to get all the appeasers coming out, politicians are going to try to make their name standing up against Ukraine."
"I'm sensing a growing resentment against the West within Ukraine, and I've been there since the beginning," Rice said.
"The fate of a nation boils down to a few weapons systems, and a keystroke in Washington can save tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives and free millions of oppressed people. All it takes is a political decision...All you need at this point, in my opinion, are ATACMS and—most importantly—the DPICM HIMARS rockets."
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-ga...-munitions-counteroffensive-artillery-1820071
