If Ukraine receives the American Iron Dome air defense system, this will not help its armed forces resolve the conflict in the Donbass in their favor.
Military observer Anton Lavrov writes about this, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports, in Izvestia.
“In any case, even the free supply of one or two Iron Dome batteries to Ukraine will not be able to change the situation in the conflict area in the east of the country. The complex was created with specific tasks in mind to protect Israel. There he only needs to cover a short 50-kilometer section of the border with the narrow Gaza Strip. It is known in advance where the attack will come from,” Lavrov points out.
According to him, in a real conflict between modern armies, the situation for this complex will not be the same hothouse, since artillery, its aviation, high-precision weapons and electronic warfare systems will work against air defense and missile defense systems.
“And due to the peculiarities of missile launches, the positions of the Iron Dome launchers are clearly visible tens of kilometers away, day and night. A single Grad multiple launch rocket launcher (MLRS) combat vehicle fires four dozen high-speed missiles in 20 seconds. Their battery rains down 240 rounds of ammunition on the enemy in less than a minute. “Dome,” which has only 60 ready-to-launch missiles in its ammunition load, has never encountered such opponents in combat,” the expert writes.
“The actual reach of each launcher is only 10–15 km. This is not enough to protect the front line from threats. At best, they can cover one settlement or airfield. Stocks of expensive anti-missile missiles, wasted on cheap artillery shells, mortar mines and unguided MLRS ammunition, also need to be continuously replenished,” the author adds.
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He notes that the Iron Dome complexes will look good at military parades, which are once again loved in Kyiv.
“They will be an excellent topic for patriotic PR. But their real combat value even against detachments of Donbass and Lugansk is not obvious, not to mention the hypothetical confrontation with the Russian army, which is increasingly being talked about in Ukraine. In a serious conflict, they simply won’t be noticed,” Lavrov sums up.
As PolitNavigator reported, American congressmen plan to send to Ukraine the Iron Dome battery.