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GOP National Security Leaders Push Biden to Send Long-Range Missile Variant to Ukraine

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-ID), and Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) sent a letter to President Biden demanding that he send long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine in addition to the full inventory of the shorter range anti-personnel variants of the same munition. 

The legislators noted that ATACMS missiles featuring a unitary warhead have a capability to strike deeper at Russian targets in Crimea, including Black Sea fleet assets. Furthermore, the lawmakers pressed the President to send the remainder of U.S. stocks of the Anti-Personnel/Anti-Materiel (APAM) variant of the missile, which has no current use in the U.S. military and which has already been sent in limited quantities to Ukraine.  

The full provisioning of these capabilities, the legislators argued, would help alter the balance in Ukraine’s counteroffensive. 

“The job on ATACMS is only half-done,” the legislators wrote. “We urge you to provide the unitary warhead variant of ATACMS which has a substantially longer range than the APAMS…Ukraine’s requirement for deep-strike capability remains urgent, particularly to range targets throughout Crimea. Recent successful strikes on Russian targets in Crimea, including on Black Sea Fleet assets, demonstrate the strategic significance of long-range strike options and the relevance of the longer range ATACMS.”

McCaul, Rogers, Risch, and Wicker additionally requested an immediate update on domestic ATACMS inventory and our own military’s requirements. 

“The bottom line is this: Ukraine has requested long-range ATACMS,” the legislators wrote. “The United States has an arsenal of long-range unitary warhead ATACMS, a hot production line to backfill them, and affordable and executable paths to speed up delivery of the Precision Strike Missile follow-on capability. Clearly, it is time for you to finish the job on ATACMS.” 

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.  

Dear President Biden: 
 
We welcome reports that your administration has finally provided some limited range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine. We remain concerned that the transfers of these shorter-range ATACMS occurred more than a year after Ukraine’s public request for this capability, and we believe it demonstrates that your administration’s reticence toward arming Ukraine continues.  
 
Although this transfer is a positive step, the job on ATACMS is only half-done: the United States has only provided a small number of the Anti-Personnel/Anti-Materiel (APAM) variant of ATACMS and these have a shorter range. We urge you to provide the unitary warhead variant of ATACMS which has a substantially longer range than the APAMS. In addition, we call on you to deliver the balance of U.S. APAMs given the Department of Defense’s repeated inability to articulate a clear, current requirement for this weapon.   
 
Ukraine’s requirement for deep-strike capability remains urgent, particularly to range targets throughout Crimea. Recent successful strikes on Russian targets in Crimea, including on Black Sea Fleet assets, demonstrate the strategic significance of long-range strike options and the relevance of the longer range ATACMS. It is a sad reflection that Ukraine had to rely, in part, on long-range missiles provided by allies to reach these targets in the face of your administration’s continued self-deterrence. Ukraine must have the ability to break Russia’s logistics network for Ukraine’s offensive operations to truly be successful.   
 
We also regret that the administration has yet to provide Congress with the definitive status of the ATACMS inventory and warfighting requirements. We have received at least three documents from the Pentagon with substantively different numbers. Given the bipartisan congressional support for providing long-range ATACMS, we cannot understand the Department of Defense’s inability to articulate ATACMS requirements.  
 
The bottom line is this: Ukraine has requested long-range ATACMS. Ukraine has demonstrated the ability to employ long-range missiles in a responsible and effective manner. Allies have already provided Ukraine with these capabilities, and Russia has clearly declined to escalate upon usage of deep-strike missiles. The United States has an arsenal of long-range unitary warhead ATACMS, a hot production line to backfill them, and affordable and executable paths to speed up delivery of the Precision Strike Missile follow-on capability. Clearly, it is time for you to finish the job on ATACMS. The costs of failing to do so not only risks stalemate on the battlefield and the further protraction of this war, but also threatens further global instability as our adversaries conduct influence operations around the globe. 

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