BGM-109 Tomahawk missile launched from battleship
Is the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev a way to change the paradigm of Ukraine’s war, or just a pressure maneuver by Trump to force Putin to negotiate peace?
The President of the USA, Donald Trumpis considering supplying Kiev with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of its recent pressure campaign on the Russian president Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump spoke to Putin by phone on Thursday and this Friday with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyat the White House, after previous attempts to negotiate a peace agreement between the two countries failed.
After the call with Putin, the US president cooled Ukrainians’ expectations about the Tomahawks, saying they were also needed by the United States.
This powerful weapon would be a blessing for Ukrainian forceswhich are increasingly focusing on long-distance missiles and drones to attack Russia in depth.
Kiev’s priority is now attack Russian energy infrastructure — a way to make a demonstrable impact on international markets.
The Tomahawks would provide Ukraine with greater capabilities to strike Russian targets, but providing Kiev with US firepower could cause a dangerous escalation with Moscow, notes the .
What is the Tomahawk missile?
The Tomahawk is a long-range cruise missilefirst introduced in the 1980s and manufactured by several North American companies in different variants and blocks in the following years.
It was designed to Fly below the radar, evade defenses and navigate to the target using a suite of different guidance technologies at high subsonic speeds.
Tomahawks can carry a range of different warheadsincluding cluster munitions, high explosives and bunker drillers. Can be launched from submarines, warships and land mobile systems.
In June, a US submarine attacked nuclear targets in Iran during the Israeli military operation Midnight Hammer, which destroyed the Fordow underground facility.
What makes the Tomahawks an important weapon?
The Tomahawks have considerable advantages about some of the weapons previously supplied to Ukraine. One of them is its reachwhich in some variants reaches 2500 km.
This distance allows Ukraine to launch attacks from within its territory and still hit targets n Crimea and large expanses of Russiaincluding the Moscow area.
According to military analysts cited by the Post, the Ukrainians would probably receive the Typhona land mobile launcher, to fire the Tomahawks.
The range of these missiles is several times greater than that of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), very popular North American missiles, which the Ukrainians have used to destroy command centers and troop positions across the border.
The precision and trajectory followed by the Tomahawk are other fundamental attributes of these missiles, he explains. Mark Canciansenior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cited by the Post.
While the ballistic missiles travel along a pronounced arcpeaking at high altitudes where air defense systems can intercept them, Tomahawks fly on a low trajectory along the contour of the Earth, making their detection and interception more difficult.
Tomahawks made their debut in the 1980s, having been designed at the time to cheat Soviet-era systems, some of which Russia still employs.
Where would they be used?
Throughout the war, the ukrainian droneslong-range s inflicted significant damage on targets across Russia: oil refineries and depots, seaports, military storage sites, airfields and radar installations.
According to , which cites statistics from the British NGO Open Source Center (OSC), since the beginning of August, Ukrainian forces have attacked Russian energy infrastructure at least 58 times.
Ukrainian attacks regularly target locations 600 miles or more behind the Russian border. Refineries in Bashkiristan, Samara and Saratovin central Russia and Volgograd in southern Russia were among those affected.
These attacks had a significant impact. According to , an agency that analyzes Russian energy markets, almost 40% of the capacityand the country’s refining is idle, mainly due to repairs following the Ukrainian attacks, and the Russian fuel market is facing shortages.
“If the United States can release a few hundred Tomahawks and the Ukrainians concentrate them all in Russian energy installationsthis could hurt Russia enough that it might be willing to negotiate,” says Cancian.
The delivery of Tomahawk missiles to Kiev would thus be a muscular form of achieve Peace by force of arms — a strategy that Donald Trump has followed frequently in recent months, but which hardly qualifies him to win the Nobel Prize that you so much aspire to.
