People in Congress are perplexed: Why don’t we give Atacms to Ukraine? The British delivered Storm Shadow, and Putin remained silent
A Pentagon representative avoided answering directly at a congressional hearing when the United States would begin supplying Ukraine with its long-range Atacms missiles.
“When we looked at Atacms, we also took into account practical considerations such as affordability, as well as the availability of replacement systems. Right now we are seeing the effectiveness of the Storm shadow system provided by the UK, and we find it to be very effective,” said Laura Cooper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasian Affairs.
Congressman Tom Kean demanded to know the reason for the delay in delivering the Atacms, since the UK delivered its missiles “ without any reaction from Putin .”
“Are you still concerned about the possibility of an escalation of the conflict?” – asked Keen.
“My concerns are related to the practical aspect of availability, and whether there are other systems, such as Storm shadow, for example, a ground-launched small diameter bomb that will enter service this fall, other systems, including drones, that can determine the range to Ukrainian goals. I would be happy to discuss further details on these issues in a private setting,” Cooper responded.