U.S. defense company Oshkosh Defense on Oct. 13 revealed a new mobile, ground-based missile launcher capable of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Tomahawks are currently at the center of geo-political discussions as U.S. President Donald Trump mulls sending them to Ukraine in order to pressure Russia to the negotiating table.
But one potential issue has been hovering over the debate — usually launched from specially-adapted ships or strategic bombers, how would Ukraine launch Tomahawks?
The Extreme Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicle (X-MAV) could solve that problem — according to Oshkosh, the X-MAV launcher was designed to operate autonomously and transport heavy weapons over long distances.
It was presented at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) exhibition which runs from 13-15 Oct. in Washington, D.C., and was demonstrated in a configuration with four Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The Tomahawk is a subsonic, long-range cruise missile designed for precision strikes against land targets. It has an operational range between 1,600 and 2,500 kilometers.
Experts say these long-range weapons, if approved, would allow Ukraine to strike military targets deep inside Russia and increase pressure on Vladimir Putin, giving Kyiv stronger leverage in future peace negotiations.
Trump said on Oct. 12 that he is prepared to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine but said he plans to first discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I might have to speak to Russia, to be honest, about the Tomahawks," Trump told reporters. "Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so."
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 9 that the delivery of the Tomahawk cruise missiles may force Russia to see the real state of affairs, and sit down at the negotiating table.
The Tomahawk's range would open up great swathes of Russia to Ukrainian long-range missile strikes, most notably Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Ukraine currently regularly targets the Russian capital with drones, and though these rarely cause damage, they do have a psychological effect on the Russian population as well as causing widespread disruption, particularly through the closing of Russian airports.
Tomahawks would allow for far more accurate and powerful strikes on Moscow, something alluded to by Zelensky in a recent interview.
"They will have to know where the bomb shelters are," Zelensky said of Kremlin officials. "They have to know that we in Ukraine will answer. If they attack us, we will answer them."
Another target that would likely be high on Ukraine's target list are the airbases from which Russia launches mass missile attacks against Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine has long struggled to target them as Moscow has kept its air fleet out of range of weapons Kyiv has developed domestically, as well as those supplied by its Western countries.
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