June 1, 2023

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire from the western 155-mm howitzer M777 (Photo:REUTERS / Gleb Garanich) 

From millions of shells to high-speed missiles, Austrian military analyst Tom Cooper has listed what he believes are the real needs of the Ukrainian army.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces don’t need F-16s, but artillery rounds – and in huge numbers to change the situation at the front, Austrian military expert Tom Cooper argues in an exclusive interview with NV on May 29.

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“In January, February and March, it was clearly demonstrated that above all you need a lot of artillery shells,” Cooper said.

“I don’t mean just sending you 100,000-200,000 or 300,000 rounds every month. I mean millions of shells a month until you have so many shells that your military doesn’t have to think about wasting them.”

This is the most important need for the Ukrainian Armed Forces because “artillery kills Russians in large numbers; and the only way to force Russia to retreat from Ukraine is to destroy the Russian army,” Cooper said.

The second most important item is heavy infantry weapons, namely automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.

The third item is heavy equipment, including tanks, and armored personnel carriers.

“Right now, you’re still equipped with NATO Class 2 weapons,” Cooper explained. “You’re getting old tanks, you’re getting old armored personnel carriers, you’re not getting enough infantry fighting vehicles. You’re just now getting some really modern infantry fighting vehicles from Sweden (CV90) that have a 40mm cannon. This is really fantastic equipment, and it is very well protected. This is exactly what you need for advancement and other operations.”

The fourth item is air defense systems like Patriot, like IRIS-T, like NASAMS, and more Hawk systems. After all, Ukraine needs an air defense system that the army can move along with the troops on the front.

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The fifth item is the Israeli-made, long-range Rampage fast hypersonic missile.

“You launch it from, say, an F-16. It flies almost ballistic at a distance of 150 kilometers and hits the target accurately,” Cooper says.

This is a much better weapon than the long-range British Storm Shadow, HIMARS and other rockets, because they are all slow, Cooper argues.

“Storm Shadow moves at a speed of 800-900 km/h,” the military analyst explained.

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“HIMARS rockets are also relatively slow. You need weapons that are faster, and you need them in large quantities.”

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