How New Ukrainian Air Defenses Might Stop Russian Missile Bombardment

By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

Ukrainians forces will be firing US Army and Marine Corps artillery in a matter of days, Pentagon officials say, once US experts have a chance to “train the trainers” outside of Ukraine. 

US 155mm Howitzers

The addition of 155mm artillery could be quite significant for Ukrainian forces who have thus far been largely unable to strike Russian force concentrations from stand-off ranges. Most US 155mm Howitzers can fire a range of at least 30km, which is much farther than the reported range of Ukraine’s Soviet-Era older artillery systems. For the Ukrainians, longer-range artillery could enable them to attack force “massing,” “staging” and preparation areas for Russian forces preparing to invade. Also, by being used as suppressive “area fire,” the artillery could enable Ukrainian forces to maneuver and deny entrance or passageway for Russian forces along key routes into Donbass. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby was clear to emphasize that US military personnel will not go into Ukraine to train the Ukrainians on how to use the artillery, but will rather familiarize a group of Ukrainians with the weapons outside of the country. 

“Training will occur outside of Ukraine. It’ll be more of a train the trainer’s kind of environment. So, it’ll be a small number of Ukrainians that will be trained on the howitzers. And then they will be reintroduced back into their country to train their colleagues,” Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby told reporters, according to a transcript. 

The training should not be too laborious, Kirby said, in large measure because there is much commonality between most kinds of artillery. 

“They don’t use American howitzers in artillery. They understand how to use artillery, and it won’t — we don’t believe will take very long or require much detailed training to get them up to speed on American howitzers. An artillery piece, so I’ve been told, is not unlike other artillery pieces. The basic outlines of the system are the same,” Kriby said. “We’ll just have to get them up to speed on the particulars of our howitzers. These are 155 howitzers. The Ukrainians typically use 152, it’s different caliber. But it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be overly laborious to get them up to speed on this,”