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| The Missiles systems Tochka-U |
Kiev - The Tochka U "short-range" ballistic missile system is the most powerful weapon in Ukraine's arsenal. However, after five months of conflict with Russia, Ukraine began to run out of these Tochka U missiles.
Quoted from Defense View, Director of the Intelligence Service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov stressed that the Tochka U ballistic missile system is still an option for long-range attacks. However, he acknowledged that after five months of conflict with Russia, Ukraine had only a few Tochka-U systems left.
It is known, the Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile had been the pride of the Soviet army before the US and NATO. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, missiles of this type were distributed in large quantities to Ukraine. The Tochka-U is still the most powerful tactical ballistic missile in the country's army.
According to Russia, at the start of the conflict, Ukraine had only about 40 Tochka-U systems left. The protracted conflict with Russia has seen Ukraine use nearly all of its existing Tochka-U missiles.
To note, the destructive power of the Tochka-U missile lies in its large warhead with pre-emptive attack tactics. Missiles of this type have caused a lot of damage in Russia since the conflict broke out on February 24, 2022.
The Tochka-U missile is said to have sunk a Russian naval landing ship. It is known that the Tochka-U is an improved variant of the Tochka tactical ballistic missile, which was developed in 1968 to replace the 9K52 Luna-M battlefield rocket.
The Tochka entered service in the Soviet army in 1976, while the more modern Tochka-U variant officially entered service in 1989. The missile is transported and launched on a 9P129 self-propelled launcher, using an inertial guidance system for relative accuracy when destroying targets.
Tochka-U is used to destroy targets such as ground vehicles of reconnaissance-attack complexes, control stations, airfields, reserves, ammunition depots, fuel, which are located deep in the enemy line of defense.
This type of missile has a range of 185 km, each missile carrying a warhead weighing half a ton to destroy targets. If needed, this type of missile can be equipped with biological, chemical, and even nuclear warheads with high destructive power.
For maneuvering on the battlefield, missiles are placed on launch vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with a 300 horsepower diesel engine which allows them to run at a maximum speed of 60 km/h on asphalt roads and swim at a speed of 8 km/h. Vehicle operating range up to 650km; 60% climbing ability; over a 0.5m high obstacle and over a 1.2m wide moat.
In addition to the Ukrainian army, this type of missile has been seen in Russian military units since early July. Thus, the Tochka-U missile has been officially used by both sides in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Russia claims they are not using these old missiles, not Russia using the Iskander.
Earlier, Russia announced that this missile would be completely phased out to replace it with the Iskander-M missile. But the conflict in Ukraine has forced Russia to reuse its old line of weapons, including the Tochka-U missile.