Ukraine Got 10,000 Urgently Needed RAAM Artillery Rounds in the New U.S. Aid Package
The security assistance package announced yesterday by the U.S. Department of Defense contains remote minelaying ammunition — specifically, the Remote Anti-Armor Mine systems deployed by 155mm artillery guns. The insight comes from comparing official fact sheets published on July 29th and the latest one released on August 9th.
Note, sometimes these regular fact sheets reflect only approximate figures. Still, the comparison shows an increase from 50,000 to 60,000 RAAMs committed following the allocation of the 63rd Presidential Drawdown Authority package amounting to $125 million. For a reminder, the military equipment provided under the PDA program is drawn from Pentagon’s stocks and thus arrives at the destination within weeks from the announcement.
The growth in statistics does not necessarily mean all the 10,000 additional RAAMs were pledged with this one package. Still, the number of this special-type ammunition in the new supply was significant enough to update the list.
In general, the Remote Anti-Armor Mine is a shell-shaped container with nine anti-tank landmines inside. Launched from a standard 155mm artillery gun, it scatters the mines across a target area within a 17.6 km range.
This kind of weapon would be especially useful for the Ukrainian Defense Forces considering the new operational situation in certain areas of military activity where deploying a no-go area swiftly can strain russia’s ability to bring reinforcements and reclaim the initiative.
Besides, these mine-carrying rounds are also helpful in positional warfare as they can create a no-access zone along the course of enemy advancing armored vehicles or right in front of the tactical assembly area.
RAAM exists in two types, the only difference being the timer of self-destruction: 48 hours for the M718 variant and 4 hours for the M741. This factor defines their preferred usage.
In addition to RAAM ammunition, Ukraine will get additional Stinger and Javelin missiles, Humvees, and more — full list and analysis here. The mentioned fact sheets don’t reflect any notable changes, for example, where 50 “multi-mission radars” were mentioned, now “more than 50” is written.
That is because many of the articles are measured in thousands, like the 10,000 Javelin missiles or 3,000 HMMWVs, or in millions as exemplified by 3,000,000 155mm artillery shells. Some sensitive items don’t have even approximate figures, for instance, ammunition for HIMARS which include not only GMLRS precision-guided rockets but long-range ATACMS missiles as well.