The United States has adopted a model of continuous testing on the issue of military aid to Ukraine. It can be seen from the fact that the United States allows European countries to provide F-16MLU fighter jets. In fact, there is no upper limit on U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Recently, U.S. officials have publicly announced that the United States is considering providing Ukrainian Tomahawk cruise missiles. For this reason, it is quite a gamble that Moscow will tolerate it. The weapons provided by the United States to aid Ukraine are constantly upgrading, and the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev have also seen the strategic intentions of the United States. For this reason, Ukrainian President Zelensky has continuously asked the United States to provide relevant weapons. Zelensky not only asked the United States to provide Patriot 3 air defense systems, but also seeks military assistance for long-range strike weapons, so there is a situation where the United States is considering providing Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Tomahawk cruise missile is a piece of equipment restricted after the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty restricts land-based missiles with a range of 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers, including land-based cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. For this reason, the land-based Tomahawk cruise missiles developed by the United States belong to the ranks of destroyed. Therefore, for a long time in the past, the United States only had air-launched versions and sea-based versions.
Judging from the current status quo of the equipment of land-based medium-range missiles in the United States, if the United States wants to provide Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles, it can only provide the "Taifeng" system."Taifeng" is a medium-range land-based missile system already installed by the U.S. Army. According to public reports, the U.S. Pacific Army has deployed a land-based medium-range missile system in the Philippines for a long time. The U.S. Army has used the so-called "shoulder-to-shoulder" joint military exercise to deploy related medium-range missiles on Luzon Island in the Philippines. Recently, Japanese media disclosed that the US military will also deploy land-based intermediate-range missiles in Japan during Japanese military exercises. Therefore, the US Army is likely to expand the deployment of intermediate-range missiles and take action under the pretext of joint military exercises.
The land-based Tomahawk cruise missile inherits the performance of the sea-based version. According to public information, the latest Tomahawk missile already has a strike capability of 2600 kilometers. For this reason, if Ukraine obtains the "Taifeng" system, it can achieve Deterrence against Russia, thereby changing the existing strategic pattern. Judging from the consideration of the United States to provide medium-range missiles, it is already a big bet that Moscow will be tolerant. In fact, when the United States provides the rest of the weapons, Moscow has taken a tolerant stance, including providing M142 seahorse matching army tactical ground-to-ground missiles. Russia has not taken tough measures, which also highlights Russia's too many concerns.
However, regarding the United States 'consideration of providing Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to foreign media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already responded, and through harsh words, Putin said that once the United States really provides Tomahawk cruise missiles, it will lead to the rupture of Russia-US relations. Today, the United States has repaired diplomatic relations with Russia, as can be seen from the bilateral summit held between the United States and Russia. However, now that the United States has made another big gamble, it will obviously make Russia reconsider its diplomatic engagement with the United States. Obviously, Russia will do what it says.