.American Weapon Failure: Huge Frustration in Ukraine
By Dr. Syed Mehboob
Economic and Political Analyst
http//: www.thenewslark.com
email: drmehboob.thenewslark.com
Russian supremacy over Ukraine is obvious. Despite immense Western help, weaponizing, financing, and political and diplomatic support to Ukraine, its defeat is written on the wall. Zelensky wants more weapon supplies from Western countries as he thinks the US supplies are insufficient and ineffective enough to counter Russian advancement. According to Zelensky, Russia is using over 3,000 guided aerial bombs per month, and he says it could be 3,500 per month. He is repeating his appeal to Western countries to help. He is demanding at least seven patriot systems.
In the last two years, America has given weapons to Ukraine but it is becoming ineffective. It seems American weapons are not working on the Ukrainian battlefield. Excalibur shells are GPS-guided artillery shells developed by two companies, Roan and BAE Systems. It is called “Silver Bullet” because of its pinpoint accuracy. Ukraine has fired thousands of these shells. One shell costs US$100,000. In January 2023, the bomb had an accuracy rate of 55% which means in every two shells fired, one would be hit at the target. In a matter of months, there was a shift.
From January to August 2023, the proportion of confirmed successful strikes with Excalibur shells dropped from a high 55% to a low of 7% in July and 6% in August. During this time, Ukraine was attempting to wage its summer counteroffensive which ultimately failed. The weapon became practically useless with only 6% accuracy and 94% failure. It is the abysmal rate that created huge frustration among the Ukrainian forces. Russians found a vulnerability. They figure out a way to make Excalibur ineffective by deploying electronic warfare. Russians installed jammers. They were used to disrupt the GPS that is the guiding system now, One claims these shells were just falling out of the sky, and Excalibur was not the only weapon that failed in the battleground. Russia neutralized other American weapons, too, like precision-guided bombs and guided rockets. These two failed because of Russian jammers. After initial success, these weapons lost their effectiveness and edge. The Russians have adapted to the battlefield with a better strategy and have had success. Ukrainians are getting frustrated and feeling helpless. Washington did not have a solution to this problem. So, they stopped supplying the bombs altogether. This is a setback for the United States of America, a so-called superpower of the world and its ally who has provided its shoulder to promote American and other Western countries' interests. Russia is beating them not only in Ukraine but also in American influence is diminishing in the Middle East where America and European countries fully backed, supported, weaponized, and financed Israel to continue the genocide of Palestinians. In the Middle East and Africa, more and more countries are now turning towards Russia and the recent visit of Bahraini Amir to Russia and Russian Foreign Minister to four African countries is self-explanatory.
Belgium agreed to provide another 30 F-16 jets to Ukraine and to help it by strengthening its artillery with means of armed vehicles. France took one more step to send its troops to Ukraine to provide training to its forces. This divided the European Union, and Germany and the UK refused to send troops and said they would help Ukraine by providing it with resources and finance, but not troops, which would escalate the war as President Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons.
Russia’s jamming of the guidance systems of modern Western weapons, including Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which can fire some U.S.-made rockets with a range of up to 50 miles, has eroded Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory and has left officials in Kyiv urgently seeking help from the Pentagon to obtain upgrades from arms manufacturers. Russia’s ability to combat the high-tech munitions has far-reaching implications for Ukraine and its Western supporters, potentially providing a blueprint for adversaries such as China and Iran, and it is a key reason Moscow’s forces have regained the initiative and are advancing on the battlefield.
This is not the only one that frustrates Ukrainians; there is another Himalayan problem of huge corruption among the armed forces. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said recently that authorities have detected significant instances of corruption within the ranks of Ukraine's armed forces. Umerov disclosed that the recent internal audit conducted by the Defense Ministry and its General Inspection uncovered corruption crimes exceeding 10 billion hryvnia ($262 million) within the last four months alone, not accounting for earlier violations. Umerov said that in December, the Security Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Defense Ministry, foiled a corruption plot for the purchase of ammunition for almost 1.5 billion hryvnia ($39.3 million). Ukraine was ranked 116th out of 180 countries in the 2022 corruption perception index.
The war in Ukraine is a Western gamble over Zelensky, which is facing a certain defeat. The EU and the USA are throwing more and more money into the war in the Middle East and Ukraine by providing huge money, weapons, and other resources to Israel and Ukraine, but they are losing their credibility, and the power game is shifting towards the east. Russia and China are now in a commanding position |