The US Department of State has notified Congress of a proposed Turkish transfer to Ukraine of 12 M270 MLRS launchers and 70 M39 ATACMS missiles.
The US Department of State has notified Congress of a proposed Turkish transfer to Ukraine of 12 M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System launchers and 70 M39 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles, along with M26 rockets and 203mm artillery rounds.
Because the weapons are US-origin, Turkey requires Washington’s approval to re-export them to a third country. The department notified Congress on August 3, starting a 15-calendar-day review period. The transaction can proceed unless Congress passes a joint resolution blocking it.
Under the proposed deal, Turkey would offload older defense articles to help fund the modernization of its military, while Ukraine would gain additional firepower for offensive and defensive operations.
The transaction is expected to involve Turkish firms MKE, ASFAT, and ARCA Savunma, Bulgaria’s VTIC International, and US contractors Pansophico and Patriot Defense Group, according to the Ukrainian government’s United24.
The Weapons
The tracked M270 can fire both ATACMS missiles and 227mm rockets. Designed for high-volume fire missions, it can strike enemy forces, infrastructure, and command positions with either area-saturation or precision fires. The 12 launchers would reportedly represent the remainder of Turkey’s M270 inventory.
The 70 M39 ATACMS missiles are the first operational variant of the ATACMS family, with a range of about 165 kilometers (102 miles).
They use inertial guidance with laser gyroscopes but lack GPS correction. Their 560-kilogram (1,235-pound) cluster warheads carry 950 M74 submunitions, each producing about 260 fragments across a destruction zone of up to 15 square meters (161 square feet).
The deal also includes 2,524 unguided M26 227mm rockets with a range of about 32 kilometers (20 miles), as well as 47,000 M509A1 203mm shells for systems such as the 2S7 Pion and M110 self-propelled howitzers.
