Experts said that the Ukrainian Himas has a range of 80 kilometers, and the U.S. promised to sell the Haimas with a range of 300 kilometers. The picture shows the Seamaster multi-launched rocket system. (Picture taken from Wikimedia Commons, copyright belongs to the public domain)
The United States announced yesterday that it will send four more sets of “Hymaster” multiple rocket systems to Ukraine, which are known as the key weapons to turn the tide of the war. Experts said that the Ukrainian hippocampus has a range of 80 kilometers, and the U.S. promised to sell to Taiwan. An important deterrent weapon in the Taiwan Strait war situation.
In 2020, the United States announced the sale of 11 sets of “Hipmaster” multiple rocket systems (HIMARS), including 64 “Army Tactical Missile Systems” (ATACMS) with a range of 300 kilometers, and it is expected to be delivered in 2024. The United States also notified Taiwan in May this year that the M109A6 self-propelled artillery arms purchase case will not be delivered until 2026 at the earliest due to the exclusion of the production line. The United States will provide alternative options such as the hippocampus system.
Su Ziyun, director of the Institute of National Defense Strategy and Resources of the National Defense Academy, told a reporter from the Central News Agency that the advantage of the Haimas rocket system is that it can strike accurately at a long distance. The main tactical effect is to attack the communication lines, supply depots, and ammunition depots of the Russian troops in Ukraine, depriving the front-line Russian troops of their forward kinetic energy, and hindering the progress of the Russian army due to the lack of fuel and ammunition.
As for whether the use of Haima Shi in the Taiwan Strait battle can play an extraordinary role, Su Ziyun pointed out that, as analyzed by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the combat scenarios in Ukraine and Taiwan are different. Ukraine is a ground war, and the Taiwan Strait is a sea and air battlefield. The two sides have different asymmetrical combat methods, but both Seamasters can play a very good source blocking effect.
Su Ziyun said that the Seamaster system purchased by Taiwan is equipped with the ultimate 300-kilometer artillery missile, which has a suppressing effect on coastal ports, airports, command centers and other facilities that the CCP has launched attacks on. The “encirclement” plan set up by the military allows Taiwan’s military power to exert partial advantages.
Su Ziyun emphasized that the sale of the ultimate hippocampus system by the United States to Taiwan is not only of tactical significance, but also of political significance, representing the US government’s expansion of trust in Taiwan.
Su Ziyun said that the Haimas rocket system is the first U.S. arms sale to Taiwan with a range of 300 kilometers, allowing Taiwan to join the so-called “Three Hundred Club”; according to the “Missile Technology Control System” (MTCR), the system has a payload of more than 500 kilograms, Systems and technologies that have a range of more than 300 kilometers and can carry weapons of mass destruction (WMD) must be regulated.
Su Ziyun pointed out that the Taiwan Strait is about 180 kilometers wide, and the range of the Haimas rocket system sold by the United States to Taiwan is enough to penetrate deep into the southeast coast of China, which represents the United States’ trust in Taiwan’s security cooperation, and Taiwan’s response to Washington’s trust will definitely follow. Act according to international rules; Taiwan’s national defense principle is strategic defense and deterrence, Taiwan will never launch the first strike, and Haima is an important deterrent weapon as the “second strike”.