Ukraine now uses donated coastal defense missiles against land targets
In what appears to be the weapon’s first documented use in Ukraine, images of Swedish RBS-17 coastal defense missile system used in an inland attack role by Ukrainian forces has appeared online.
Primarily designed for near-coastal defense – to defend against amphibious landings and shallow water threats – what’s most notable about the recently shown clip is how Ukrainian forces appear to be using the RBS-17 against land targets instead.
The video shows an RBS-17 missile being fired from its position in the middle of a nondescript field in Ukraine. Before the missile is fired, its operator runs back to cover behind a nearby tree line where the person filming is already waiting. Before the operator recovers, the missile is fired at an unknown target, but given that no bodies of water appear to be immediately nearby, the clip all but confirms that Ukrainian forces are using the otherwise RBS-17s in a secondary application against ground targets, marking the deployment of the system, and the Hellfire family of missiles, to the land war in Ukraine. It is worth noting that the Brimstone, which shares some similarities with the Hellfire, including its overall shape, but is actually a different missile, has been used in a similar way in Ukraine for some time.
The RBS-17 is designed with a number of features that make it useful in the land attack role due to its anti-armor Hellfire missile-inspired origins. For example, the system is man-portable and requires minimal installation with its tripod-like ground launch and target guidance system and compact launch vehicle.
RBS-17 is also one laser guided missile system designed for precision and has a laser designator and associated optics used to detect and read the target at which the missile is fired. RBS-17 missiles are configured with a 20-pound (9 kg) warhead and can engage a target at a range of approximately five miles (8 km).
When Sweden first announced that it would send the RBS-17 to Ukraine, it specifically referred to a request from the Ukrainian government early in the conflict for a system that could help address increasing Russian presence in the coastal areas of southeastern Ukraine and the fears of a beach landing there. The RBS-17 seemed a logical choice for Sweden to send as the system is designed to defend coastlines against just that type of operation.
Now, with Russia on the back foot, the threat landscape has changed and shoreline defense is not as high a priority as it once was, which is likely prompted Ukrainian forces to get creative with the weapons they have been given, including exploring the RBS-17’s secondary role against ground targets.
Norway also uses a similar version of the system and has pledged September to donate about 160 Hellfire laser-guided missiles to Ukraine. These can be used against Russian armor and other vehicles, as well as softer targets, and can be particularly useful for setting up semi-static defenses of key areas, as well as in ambushes. The delivery also comes with the system’s launchers and controllers.
Knowing this, the missile seen in the video could potentially even be the Hellfire as opposed to its Swedish RBS-17 derivative. However, it is unclear if Norway’s shipment has officially arrived in Ukraine since it was announced.
However, Ukrainian forces appear to be using the donated Hellfire-based systems.
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