What is HIMARS? The advanced rocket system US is sending Ukraine

Broadly speaking, Ukraine’s artillery arsenal is outranged and outnumbered by Russia’s,” Samuel Cranny-Evans, a research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera. He said that, if upgraded, systems currently in use by Russia, notably the BM-30 Smerch, can “provide sustained and destructive fire at distances up to 90 km or 120 km”. The HIMARS “will provide Ukraine firstly with the ability to reach these systems if they are operating beyond howitzer range,” he said. “In addition, the longer-range systems can be used to engage Russian logistics and command and control nodes, which are critical to Russia’s ability to sustain the fight.”