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| Ukraine Has AGM-88 HARM Super Advanced Anti-Radiation Missile |
Kiev - The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been going on since the end of February 2022. Russia's long-running invasion of Ukraine looks no sign of ending. The existence of polemics between Russia and Ukraine also dragged the Western world to intervene. The US and its allies strongly support Ukraine's position against the Russian invasion.
The US and its allies not only provide moral support, but more than that. The West also provided support in the form of weapons to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion. During Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United States had provided Kyiv with billions of dollars worth of military equipment. The composition of this aid includes various systems such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), anti-armor weapons such as Javelin missiles, special drones and even the AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile.
As an anti-radiation missile, the AGM-88 HARM is designed to contain radiation emitted by radar systems or by radar-guided air defense systems to destroy them. According to the US Air Force, the AGM-88 missile has a range of up to 30 miles and relies on a fixed antenna and search head to house on the target.
The acronym HARM in the missile's full name stands for "High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile." A report from 19fortyfive.com says that in early August, images that appeared to depict fragments similar to anti-radiation missiles reportedly fired at Russian positions began circulating on social media.
Additional images began to emerge soon after increasingly beginning to point outside observers to the conclusion that the AGM-88 had been used against Russian equipment in Ukraine. In particular, the tail and body of the missile appear to match known photographs of the AGM-88 HARM missile.
The announcement by US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy on August 8 Colin Kahl confirming that the US had indeed sent anti-radiation missiles to Ukraine further fueled the hypothesis that the US had supplied the AGM-88 HARM to Kyiv.
While Kahl did not specify the exact missile provided by the US in the briefing, he noted that it was provided to Ukraine by the Department of Defense as part of the president's recent withdrawal authority package.
Although initially silent, the Ministry of Defense will eventually confirm that Ukraine has received the AGM-88 HARM missile.
In addition to confirming that Ukraine had received US HARM missiles, the Pentagon also noted that the missiles had been paired with Ukrainian MiG aircraft. In particular, the official referred to the MiG-29 fighter, which is the only Mikoyan-Gurevich aircraft operating in Ukraine.
Ukraine's use of the MiG-29 to launch the AGM-88 HARM missile is the first recorded use of a fighter aircraft. And to fire US anti-radiation missiles. The exact mechanism that enables this unique pairing is still unknown at this time.
With the AGM-88 HARMS at its disposal, Ukraine's ability to attack and destroy Russian radars and air defense systems is greatly improved. Especially as long as the Ukrainian MiG-29 fleet remains in service.
The counter-offensive that Ukraine's military and political leadership wants to launch to restore territory currently occupied by Russia. This will likely require some form of fixed-wing air support and helicopters.
In order for Ukrainian air support to effectively complement any future advances, Russia's frontline air defenses need to be disrupted. Targeting Russian air defense and radar systems would also help facilitate attacks on ammunition dumps and command centers in the Russian rear. This shows that Ukraine's position is very important to the US.
On the other hand, related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Moscow has also deployed various defense equipment. Russia also involved a fighter who almost strengthened Indonesia, namely the Su-35. Its presence involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine clearly shows the quality of the fighter jet.