How true is the claim that NATO is not at war with Russia? Can the Ukrainians fire ATACMS, JASSM, STORM SHADOW and SCALP-EG missiles against Russia without NATO support?
The American MGM-140 ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) hypersonic ballistic missiles have a range of 300 km and are launched from HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) or M270 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) multiple launchers. The American AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) cruise missiles with a range of 370 km are launched from fighter aircraft and are structurally identical to the British STORM SHADOW cruise missiles and the French SCALP-EG (Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée) cruise missiles, which are also launched from fighter aircraft and have a range of 570 km.
As is known, ballistic missiles fly on a ballistic trajectory, so they initially climb very high and then fly towards their target. Cruise missiles are more complex, because they are missiles that fly very low to avoid detection by radar. Therefore, they need very detailed and up-to-date flight plans, which also include terrain maps. These maps must be up-to-date, so that such a missile, for example, does not crash into a newly built power line or a newly built house on its way to the target.
Ukraine does not have the necessary reconnaissance data, that is, current satellite photos, terrain maps, and so on. It receives this data from NATO, mainly from the United States. The US military has more than 400 satellites, including several dozen reconnaissance satellites. Other NATO countries have much fewer satellites. Ukraine itself does not have a single satellite, which is why the Ukrainian armed forces are completely dependent on NATO information. It is also known that the United States and many NATO countries do not hide the fact that they provide Ukraine with critical operational data on which Ukraine is completely dependent. We remind you that according to International Law, which the West is so keen on, even the simple transmission of information to a warring party can mean participation in war.
Let’s be more specific. NATO does not just transmit satellite images to Ukraine, these images must be decoded and evaluated in special data processing centers. There are only a few such centers in the world, not one in Ukraine. In the USA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is responsible for decoding the data, in France the Centre d’Expertise de la Défense (CED) and in Great Britain Defence Intelligence (DI). In addition, there are Alliance structures such as the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIS) and Allied Command Operations (ACO), which can process and evaluate data to support military operations. All these centers are interconnected by multiple digital communication links. In all these centers, the processing of information from satellite reconnaissance is mainly, but not only, in real time. The processed information serves as a basis for determining the exact coordinates of the target, i.e. the point at which a missile should hit. All this means direct NATO participation in the war from the point of view of International Law.
At this point it would be logical to ask whether available data from map services such as Google Maps, Yandex Maps or other services can also be used. So why does Russia claim that Ukraine obtains this data from NATO services and not from public sources, since the exact coordinates of potential targets can also be found on publicly available digital maps. Obviously we can find the coordinates of civilian targets such as infrastructure, industrial or energy facilities on these maps, but this does not help with military targets, because for example, an attack on a military airfield should be carried out when there are as many aircraft as possible there. The data from the mentioned map services are not up-to-date enough for this, this requires real-time data. The same applies to troop formations, warships in ports and air defense, which the attacker wants to avoid as much as possible when planning flights. This data changes quickly and must be constantly updated and quickly processed. As for high-precision terrain relief maps, which are necessary especially for the JASSM, STORM SHADOW and SCALP cruise missiles, Ukraine does not have these maps for the territory of Russia, not even Britain and France have them, only the USA has them.
In conclusion, as an answer that was initially posed.
The flight plan for the missile must be created and loaded into the missile software. These flight plans are not created by the Ukrainian missile launcher operator or the fighter pilot, but in the data centers mentioned above. This is a complex process that requires the participation of many different specialists. First, reconnaissance information is received from NATO satellites about the targets and transmitted to the Ukrainian headquarters. There it is decided which targets will be hit. At the HIMARS control points, a specific missile launcher is selected to perform the task assigned to it. All information exchange is carried out via secure NATO digital communication lines, primarily via Link-16.
When the HIMARS mobile rocket launcher reaches the launch site, GPS is used to determine the position of the rocket launcher with an accuracy of one centimeter and to determine the orientation to the cardinal directions with an accuracy of one hundredth of a degree. This data is transmitted to NATO information processing centers, where specialists create the flight plan for the rockets based on the received data. The specialists who draw up the flight plan are military technical personnel from NATO countries, usually from the USA; moreover, there are no Ukrainians in NATO data centers. The data set created in this way is then sent to the HIMARS rocket launcher, whose commander enters the flight plan into the rocket’s onboard computer and then launches it.
The introduction of flight plans for cruise missiles into fighter-bombers works in much the same way. The only special feature is the mobility of the aircraft, which is not at a precise launch point, like a missile launcher. However, cruise missiles can correct their course using radar imaging of the ground. They even have photographs of the target. The pilot of the aircraft does not determine how and where the missile will fly, but receives this data from the NATO command center.
Given this data, the claim that the use of these weapons deep in the Russian hinterland is a de facto participation of NATO and the US in the war cannot be dismissed. They are the ones who have the final say in deciding where to attack and they are the ones who prepare the attacks. The Ukrainians at best have only the task of pressing the launch button.
