Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United States has seized the opportunity to impose severe sanctions on Russia when supporting Ukraine. However, in the U.S. weapons program to assist Ukraine, some of the more powerful weapons have been limited in range, so as not to be used by Ukraine to attack the Russian mainland, with irreparable consequences.
As the war escalated, it was difficult to achieve battlefield supply in the face of the destruction of Ukraine's own military industrial system. No matter how much armament the West assists, it will be difficult to maintain the daily attrition of Ukrainian soldiers. At this time, the United States changed its approach to assistance and began to assist Ukraine with some high-precision weapons and equipment that are targeted at the target.
Recently, the news of the discovery of the remains of the US-made AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missile was reported from the Ukrainian battlefield. Curiously, the weapon did not appear on the previous U.S. military aid list.
It is reported that the U.S.-made AGM-88 anti-radiation missile was used in actual combat operations such as the Vietnam War and the 1982 attack on the Bekaa Valley, and later appeared in the Gulf War and the Iraq War. And judging from the information released by the US Department of Defense, the missile has also been sold to Germany, Australia and other allies. Today, the AGM-88 anti-radiation missile appears in Ukraine, although it has not been confirmed to be the work of the United States, but it is also inseparable from it.
The biggest role of the AGM-88 anti-radiation missile is to destroy radar targets.
In order to cope with the air defense system set up by the Soviet Union in Cuba, the United States developed the AGM-45 "Hundred Tongue" missile on the basis of the "Sparrow" III air-to-air missile, and later developed the AGM-78 "Standard" missile in order to make up for the shortcomings of the "Hundred Tongue" and deal with new threats.
In April 1972, in response to the shortcomings of the "Hundred Tongues" and "Standard" series of missiles, the U.S. Air Force and Navy launched the development of "high-speed anti-radiation missiles", code-named AGM-88.
The U.S.-made AGM-88 anti-radiation missile appeared in Ukraine, and the Russian military on the other side did send bad news. Recently, the Russian army has frequently reported that the radar has been attacked, and it is reported that a radar reconnaissance facility of the Russian army in Kherson Oblast has been destroyed. According to Russian military information, the destroyed radar model is Podlet-K1 air defense radar, and the deployment location is about 100 kilometers away from the Ukrainian position.
The destruction of the Russian Podlet-K1 air defense radar is obviously difficult for the Ukrainian army alone to achieve. The radar is one of the most advanced radars of the Russian military at present, and its ability to capture low-altitude and ultra-low-altitude targets is very good, and it can effectively warn targets such as low-fly cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles with a detection range of up to 300 kilometers.
Following the Pentagon's previous thinking, it will improve Ukraine's ability to strike precise targets, on the premise that Ukrainian missiles will not be easily intercepted by the Russian military. Nowadays, the russian army's most advanced radar on the battlefield has begun to be targeted attacks, which is obviously to make the Russian army lose its "eyes", once the Russian army loses the ability to perceive the battlefield, the next Ukrainian army may have some big moves.
In fact, the Russian side has begun to suspect that the United States sent the AGM-88 to Ukraine in July, but no evidence has been found. Moreover, from some public data, the AGM-88 anti-radiation missile was originally designed to be an air-launched version. At present, the Russian army has air supremacy in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian army cannot use the air-launched version of the AGM-88 missile at all, so there is a possibility that the wreckage of the AGM-88 missile found this time is a land-based version.
The American Northrop Grumman Company has developed and upgraded the latest improved AGM-88G anti-radiation missile, and the biggest upgrade of the missile compared with the previous generation is the addition of land-based and sea-based launch methods. Theoretically, the Hippocampus rocket artillery system could also launch such land-based anti-radiation missiles. From this point of view, the suspicion of the United States is indeed very large.
What do you think about this? There are three points worth noting:
1. The Ukrainian battlefield has appeared weapons and equipment outside the list of U.S. aid to Ukraine, and once it is confirmed, it will once again expose the ugly face of the United States.
However, russia should indeed learn a lesson. If we only pay more attention to the weapons and equipment that the West has openly aided Ukraine, it will suffer a big loss if it is taken lightly. Now that the AGM-88 missile, a weapon that has never appeared on the aid list, is there any other weapon? This point requires the Russian military to carefully reconnoiter and identify, and then come up with a cracking method.
2. The Russian military should reflect on its operational thinking, why its key targets have been repeatedly destroyed, and the "killing" of the Ukrainian side is very limited.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict lasted for more than 5 months, and to be honest, the speed of the Russian army's advance was very slow, on the one hand, there was a shortage of precision-guided munitions, and on the other hand, it was likely to be jealous of the advanced weapons that Ukraine got from the West.
Ukraine received a lot of weapons and equipment from the West, but it was able to do so with such weapons as Hippos rockets and some self-propelled howitzers, which delayed russian military operations. Today, the Russian military's most advanced radar is most likely destroyed by the AGM-88 anti-radiation missile, which will put the Russian army in great trouble.
If the Russian army wants to reverse the unfavorable situation in local operations, it must come up with strong enough means to destroy the advanced weapons in the hands of Ukraine.
3. The shortcomings exposed by the Russian army on the battlefield, especially the poor performance of the Russian Air Force. If the Russian military had a precision strike capability, it might have been able to destroy the weapons that the West aided Ukraine would have been able to destroy long ago, and there would even be a case of the AGM-88 anti-radiation missile destroying the radar.
The Russian military has demonstrated some precision missile strike capabilities before, but not many. However, the Russian army also has an air force that can carry missiles to carry out precision strikes, but unfortunately there are not many such operations.
In terms of the performance of Russian fighters alone, there is no doubt that they are outstanding. However, if the Air Force wants to strike targets with precision, it must rely on early warning aircraft and military satellites to implement assistance. At the same time, in the face of the enemy's electronic interference, there must also be means of suppression, but the Russian army still needs to work hard in this regard.
As a result, ukraine can immediately inflict heavy damage on the Russian army after obtaining advanced weapons from the West, but the Russian army is difficult to destroy.