Tomahawks could provide strategic advantage to Ukraine, says defense expertpublished at 6:15 p.m. BST
Jonathan Béale
Defense Correspondent
In terms of Ukraine’s military might, Tomahawk missiles probably wouldn’t change much for the war-torn country, said Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based defense and security think tank.
“The ability to strike targets at depth can be both militarily and economically disruptive, but will not fundamentally change the situation on the front line,” Kaushal said.
There are a limited number of ground launchers for Tomahawk missiles, and the United States has only a small number of missiles to offer Ukraine because it has already spent hundreds in the Middle East, he says.
And since a significant number of Tomahawk missiles would likely be shot down, the United States would likely not give Ukraine the latest Block V variant due to the risk of compromise, Kaushal adds.
But from a broader strategic perspective, Ukraine’s potential acquisition of the Tomahawks is more likely to change the situation, Kaushal believes.
“Russia has long viewed land-based Tomahawk launchers close to its borders as a major threat – which partly explains its deep reservations about NATO missile defenses,” adds Kaushal.
In addition to this, Kaushal states: “If Russia views the Ukrainian possession of Tomahawk not through the prism of the war in Ukraine per se, but rather through the prism of the broader strategic balance.
“They could have an entirely different meaning in that Russia would view them not as a small Ukrainian arsenal, but as a forward-deployed element of a much larger US strike capability.”
And this threatens to push Russia to intensify its stance towards NATO countries.
