Joe Biden Under Pressure to Send ATACMS to Ukraine

President Joe Biden's administration is facing increasing pressure to provide Ukraine with the U.S. military's Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, as long-range weapons dominate aid discussions.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday said he had "stressed the need to enhance Ukraine's long-range capabilities by providing ATACMS," during a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Washington has so far refused to equip Ukraine with the surface-to-surface ballistic missile systems with a range just short of 200 miles.

Analysts have been suggesting ATACMS would soon appear in U.S. Defense Department military aid packages, after the U.K. announced in May it was sending its long-range Storm Shadow, or SCALP, missiles.

ATACMS have a slightly longer range than the Storm Shadow, althoug there is some debate among experts about the true range of the air-launched cruise missiles. In mid-July, France also committed SCALP missiles, boosting the number of long-range strikes Ukraine could carry out.

Although Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador in Washington D.C., indicated in mid-June that the U.S. had "changed its tone" on ATACMS, no decision has yet been made. A Pentagon spokesperson told Newsweek on Tuesday that the U.S. Defense Department had "nothing new to share regarding ATACMS at this time."

The U.S.'s top soldier, General Mark Milley, told the Defense One website in March that the U.S. has "relatively few ATACMS, we do have to make sure that we maintain our own munitions inventories, as well."

"Ukraine needs another Patriot battery, more air defense platforms plus ATACMS! Send now," retired U.S. Army officer John Spencer wrote on Twitter. Ukraine is known to have received two Patriot air defense systems, which have been credited with intercepting Russia's hypersonic Kinzhal missiles.

Ukraine has repeatedly called for more air defense platforms, and President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his request for "the necessary modern weapons, including long-range missiles" in an address in late July.

"We need ATACMS, and we are waiting for a corresponding decision. We need more air defense systems," the head of Zelensky's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said last month.

"The U.S. should license the re-export to Ukraine of ATACMS held by European allies and backfill those same allies," Edward Hunter Christie, a former NATO official, wrote on social media. "Can't argue against it on 'escalation management' grounds with Ukraine getting Storm Shadows since May," he added.

Ukraine needs ATACMS and Germany's Taurus cruise missile "urgently as an interim solution," Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, Norway, wrote on Twitter. Hoffmann told Newsweek on Monday that the Taurus would be useful for Ukraine to continue strikes on key bridges in the annexed Crimean peninsula, should Berlin move to provide them.

Although ATACMS are different to the Storm Shadow, SCALP and Taurus missiles made by European manufacturer MBDA, they would add to Ukraine's ability to target Russian sites far behind the front lines.

"The main benefit is not range but simply capacity," Ed Arnold, a research fellow in European security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Newsweek last month.

The ATACMS would be better suited to targets like warehouses or storage depots, rather than the bunkers or fortified targets Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles are designed to destroy.

Ukraine wouldn't need to use its limited number of aircraft to fire ATACMS, Ian Williams, deputy director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Newsweek.

The White House have been contacted for comment via email.

Update 08/08/23 at 11:32 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from the Pentagon.