‘Pinpoint accuracy’: what are the M270 rocket systems the UK is sending to Ukraine?

Britain will supply Ukraine with cutting-edge M270 launchers to help the country defend itself from ongoing Russian attacks, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

The multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) can strike targets up to 80km away with “pinpoint accuracy”, enabling the Ukrainian army to hit Russian targets that are currently out of their range.

In a statement Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the move reflected Russia’s changing tactics and the Ukrainian military’s more pressing need for longer-range precision weapons to defend the country.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities,” Wallace said.

“We cannot stand by while Russian long-range artillery flattens cities and kills innocent civilians,” added Boris Johnson on Twitter, when the news was announced.

‘Shoot and scoot’ principle

The UK is the first country to send Ukraine the US-made MLRS, of which it has 42 in total. According to Military.com, the system can launch 12 rockets, packaged in “two six-rocket pods”, in less than 60 seconds.

The launcher is mounted on a track and can reach a maximum speed of 40kph. The system employs something the site calls the “shoot and scoot” principle, meaning it gives the soldier using it a chance to flee the scene before the opponent’s drones spot what is happening.

An unspecified number of Ukrainian troops will receive training in the UK on how to use the launchers, which are nearly seven metres long. The training is understood to take several weeks, said The Independent.

This is not the first time in the conflict that training has taken place overseas: back in April, a small number of Ukrainian soldiers visited an unnamed English military base to be taught how to use the Mastiff armoured vehicles donated by Britain.

Follows US announcement

The exact quantity of M270s being supplied to Ukraine has not been revealed by the Ministry of Defence, although the “number is small and will be comparable to the US decision to send four HIMARS”, said The Guardian.

Joe Biden announced last week that the US would send Ukraine more advanced rocket systems, including the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which can launch multiple precision-guided missiles at targets up to 45 miles away.

The two systems are “intended to be complementary”, although the HIMARS is lighter and thought to be more modern than the M270s.

As was the case with the US, the UK has “sought assurances from Kyiv that the M270s would not be used to strike targets within Russia”, added The Guardian.

Risks provoking Kremlin

The move risks provoking the Kremlin, which was already angered by Biden’s move to send four HIMARS.

On Russian state TV on Sunday, Vladimir Putin warned that if Western countries sent Ukraine missiles with longer ranges, Russia would “draw appropriate conclusions” and “strike at those targets that we are not striking yet”, reported the BBC. The Russian president did not specify what those targets might be.

Putin’s comments followed reports of Russian missiles striking Kyiv for the first time in more than a month, in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Independent told of “multiple explosions hitting infrastructure targets” in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday.