00:00 HIMARS is a very specific and advanced multiple launcher rocket system that is a MLRS that adds
00:08 precision capability. They're basically truck-mounted rocket launchers. So Smerch is one of the top MLRS
00:15 systems that Russia has developed. It is the closest comparable to HIMARS. There's important
00:22 differences in the way that they're used and there's important differences in their capabilities
00:26 that we can get into, but I think that in some ways those are instructive to the ways the war is
00:31 being carried out. Hi I'm Sam Feldman. I am a defense editor with Insider and I'm a U.S. Navy veteran
00:38 and former ordnance officer. HIMARS generally fires three kinds of rockets. Unitary warhead
00:47 and area effects warhead. Those ranges are about 50 miles and it's able to fire six of those at a time.
00:55 There is also a way that instead of carrying six rockets it carries one rocket. In this case it's
01:01 actually what's called tactical ballistic missile known as ATAKMS. And ATAKMS has a 190 mile range.
01:08 ATAKMS is a much more expensive system. It's roughly 1.4 million dollars per ATAKMS or the
01:15 unitary warhead are just much cheaper. They're about 100,000 for each rocket. The BM-30 Smerch
01:20 with its unguided rockets has a range of about 43 miles. With its upgraded rockets which are called
01:28 Tornado S rockets, they are navigation system aided, those have a range of about 74 miles.
01:36 That exceeds the range of the comparable HIMARS unitary area effects warheads.
01:47 HIMARS is a highly precise system. It essentially has a evaluated accuracy within about two meters.
01:56 You could target it for the front of a Humvee and it might hit the rear door. The BM-30 Smerch with
02:04 its upgraded rockets which are called Tornado S rockets, the Russian manufacturer Rostec says that
02:11 it's much more accurate than previously inertial navigation system guided rockets. Can we quantify
02:18 that? No. We are only seeing some of the usage in Ukraine. It seems to be fairly limited usage.
02:25 HIMARS has about a four to five minute reloading time. The way that crews typically operate,
02:35 once they fire the rockets and launch point, they are what's called shooting and scooting.
02:40 So they are getting out of that area and they are likely going to a resupply point. In the case of
02:48 HIMARS, it can either carry one attack or it can carry one pod of six other rockets with shorter
02:54 ranges. Those pods are basically moved all together in one piece. It's like moving like a pallet.
03:00 That's done within about four to five minutes. The BM-30 Smerch relies on a servicing vehicle.
03:08 That tends to take somewhere between 20 and 38 minutes to reload this. Part of the reason is that
03:15 the servicing vehicle is loading in rockets one by one via crane. So instead of moving one pallet
03:24 like HIMARS, it's moving 12 individual rockets. The HIMARS system allows the crew to be much
03:30 more efficient to be ready for that next fire mission sooner. The BM-30 Smerch has a top speed
03:39 of about 37 miles per hour and HIMARS has a speed of around 53 miles an hour. Part of the reason for
03:45 that is that HIMARS is a lighter system. HIMARS only carries six rockets. The BM-30 carries 12
03:53 rockets. And so it's just a heavier, it's a heavier truck. It carries a heavier load. These systems are
03:58 not defined by ground speed. They're not tanks that are trying to shatter through lines. The
04:05 speeds of the vehicles allow for more readiness to be ready for more missions.
04:11 We don't see like direct video evidence that the HIMARS has come up directly against BM-30
04:22 MLRS. The US has supplied 39 HIMARS launchers and the artillery, the rocket artillery they need.
04:30 They've been employed by Ukraine for 18 months and none have been destroyed to date. A lot of
04:36 MLRS have been destroyed on both sides. Russia's lost a huge number of MLRS, well over 300 different
04:44 vehicles and those include the BM-21. There are two BM-30 Smerches that have been destroyed. About
04:53 80 BM-27 Uragans have been destroyed. It seems like there's two things going on. The first comes
05:00 down to the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS. We know that GLONASS is not as accurate
05:07 as GPS. That may be contributing to the lack of observed pinpoint accuracy. It also is likely
05:14 a failure of intelligence. The system of Russian targeting seems not to range much deeper than the
05:21 Ukrainian front lines. Instead Russia's mainly used its rockets as area attack weapons. Researchers
05:27 have found evidence that the Russians fired them at volume into Kharkiv, the country's second largest
05:34 city. And this kind of encapsulates the Russian employment of MLRS. They use it primarily as an
05:41 unguided brute force weapon. The Ukrainians are getting targets for HIMARS, sending it on fire
05:48 missions that with the range HIMARS can fire from a safe distance behind the front lines and then it
05:54 relocates. And the Russians haven't figured out an effective way to deal with that yet. And so
06:00 essentially it's been operating with impunity. Don't expect HIMARS to be a wonder weapon any
06:09 longer. There's growing signs that the Russians are jamming the GPS signals upon which HIMARS rounds
06:19 depend for their pinpoint accuracy. The Ukrainians with much smaller artillery arsenal depend on
06:26 accuracy over the volume of fire that Russia can command.
06:29 [Russian radio chatter]
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