The United States allows the sale of Tomahawk missiles to Europe for Ukraine. What you need to know

The United States, amid a slowdown in the negotiation process on the Ukrainian conflict, announced the possibility of supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to European countries that purchase them for Ukraine. The new weapon surpasses the range of the HIMARS and ATACMS missiles, which were previously transferred by the West to Kiev. What is known about Tomahawk, whether it has Russian analogues, and what the Russian military can oppose to American weapons is in the Izvestia article.

What is known about Tomahawk

• On September 29, Vice President of the United States Jay D. Vance announced the possibility of supplying Tomahawk to European countries for subsequent transfer to Ukraine. He noted that such negotiations are underway, but the final decision remains with US President Donald Trump. Kiev has repeatedly asked Washington to provide it with cruise missiles for attacks on Russia.

• Tomahawk may become the longest-range weapon of the entire arsenal received by Ukraine from its allies. The claimed range of American cruise missiles is from 1600 km. So far, the Ukrainian side has used Western SCALP (Storm Shadow), HIMARS and ATACMS missiles for attacks on Russia, with ranges of 250, 300 and 500 km.

• There are opinions that the United States may sell Block IV Tomahawk missiles to Europe for supplies to Ukraine, which are capable of switching between targets during flight. But often American weapons transferred to other countries have certain limitations that do not allow them to use all their capabilities. For example, howitzers were supplied to Kiev without GPS navigation, and the range of missile systems was limited.

• Kiev does not have strategic aircraft and ships that can be used to launch cruise missiles, so it will require the purchase of a Typhon ground-based launcher. Missile guidance based on coordinates obtained from American satellites is likely to be handled by specialists from the United States. The Ukrainian military can carry out training and launches, but the most important and responsible processes are always carried out by the Western military.

Non-Nuclear Deterrence: How Russia Responds to Western Missile Firings

Ukrainian air defense system does not have sufficient capabilities to repel combined attacks by the Russian Armed Forces

What are the risks?

The appearance of Tomahawk cruise missiles in Ukraine may contribute to prolonging the conflict, and at first this effect will be quite noticeable. Possible enemy targets are likely to be reviewed, and air defense systems will need to be deployed where there has been no threat of missile strikes so far.

• Even the Western press doubts that the supply of American missiles will be able to change the situation in the Ukrainian conflict zone. Russian electronic warfare and air defense systems, as well as MiG-31BM fighter jets and interceptors, are capable of shooting down such missiles at long distances.

• Tomahawk is not a fundamentally new weapon for Russian specialists. In 2018, during the fighting in Syria, the American cruise missile was delivered to the Russian military almost intact, which allowed it to be studied and effective means of countering such weapons to be developed.

How will Russia respond

• Moscow will make every diplomatic effort to avoid selling American Tomahawk missiles to the Europeans and then transferring them to Kiev. An increase in the range of strikes would mean a sharp escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, in which neither European countries nor the United States are interested.

• If it is not possible to prevent the supply of cruise missiles through diplomatic means, a tougher response from Russia is possible. Moscow has much more powerful weapons: the Kinzhal hypersonic missile has a range of up to 2-3 thousand km, and the Russian X-101 cruise missile with a cluster warhead can strike at distances from 3 thousand to 4 thousand km.

During the preparation of the material, Izvestia interviewed:

• Director of the Museum of the Air Defense Forces, retired Colonel Yuri Knutov.