If the United States really wants to use the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) long-range multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) combat vehicles, which have recently been tested near Crimea, this weapon will be quickly destroyed by the Russian military. A similar scenario of a possible war with Washington for the peninsula was described in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets by military expert Alexei Leonkov.
According to him, the installation tested by the Americans during the exercises in Romania is positioned as a weapon that is not afraid of counter-battery warfare. “But our fight against the enemy's rocket fire is not counter-battery. In the same region, we have an electronic reconnaissance station that determines where they fired from. This time, ”the expert noted.
After that, anti-aircraft defense systems (air defense), for example, Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and cannon complexes (ZRPK), which are capable of shooting down MLRS shells, would be connected to the fight against missiles launched towards Russia. At the same time, the missile of the Iskander operational missile-tactical complex would already be sent to the place where the strike would have been struck, Leonkov said. “She will cover everything that is in that position and will do it very quickly. Probably even before the HIMARS missiles reach us, ”he explained.
In addition, the expert added, aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) located in the area of deployment of enemy weapons can also be used for a retaliatory strike.
At the same time, Leonkov stressed that such exercises, and in particular their coverage in the media, are in fact only a game for the audience and should hardly be taken seriously by the Russian side.
Earlier, Forbes magazine reported that as part of training exercises, the American military redeployed two combat vehicles of the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) long-range multiple launch rocket system to Romania, after which they fired several missiles into the air and returned the installations to Germany. The operation took several hours, the article says. The author also believes that the missile launch came as a surprise for the Russian military in Crimea.
