US sending artillery rockets to Ukraine

US sending artillery rockets to Ukraine

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Defence

As the fighting in eastern Ukraine turns into an artillery duel, the Pentagon announced that it would send its most advanced artillery rocket launcher and munitions to the Ukrainian military in the hope of giving it an edge over Russia.

Artillery rocket

• An artillery rocket is a weapon that is typically propelled by a solid-fuel motor and can carry a variety of warheads.
• The latest model of these launchers developed by the US is the HIMARS, for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System based on wheeled trucks and Guide Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS).

Difference between a rocket and a missile 

• Generally the word “rocket” is used in a military context to refer to relatively inexpensive unguided weapons powered by solid-fuel motors, while “missile” is generally shorthand for “guided missiles,” more expensive and complicated weapons that use movable fins to steer themselves to their targets and can fly much farther.
• The Pentagon has already sent short-range, inexpensive and unguided anti-tank weapons that are classified as rockets to Ukraine, like the AT-4, and the longer-range Javelin, which is a guided missile.
• However, these new weapons to be sent to Ukraine are “guided rockets” which are often older rocket designs upgraded to have guidance systems and movable fins on their nose to steer them.
• The explosive power of these rockets is more than 10 times  that of howitzers.
• Howitzers like the M777 can fire at a rate of about two to three rounds per minute. The GMLRS rockets can be fired singly or in a ripple of all six in just seconds, rivaling the power of an airstrike dropping guided bombs.