This was the day. The Ukrainian army received the desired ATACMS and the Russians immediately felt it

According to the Russians themselves, it could have been the worst day of their aviation in the war. Ballistic missiles fired by the Ukrainians fell on the airports, from which dozens of helicopters were operating. There is no doubt that the attack used ATACMS missiles, which the Ukrainians have been asking for over a year. You can see why.

Within 24 hours after the attack, many recordings and photos appeared confirming what happened in the morning of October 17. 

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1714525712231584021

Something clearly fell on the airport, which caused numerous explosions and fires among helicopters, ammunition and other equipment scattered around the area. At the beginning you can also see what may be a missile fired in defense.

Rain of little bombs from ATACMS

On Tuesday morning, news of the attack was first reported by the Russian "Fighterbomber" channel on Telegram, which emerged during the conflict as the best source of unofficial information from the Russian aviation. Anti-Ukrainian, but also writing about the failures of his side. According to its author, the Ukrainians carried out an attack on the airports in Berdyansk and Luhansk, causing serious losses, almost certainly the largest single losses in the history of Russian aviation in this war. Numerous helicopters were allegedly destroyed or damaged because planes are not based on them. There was also a claim that American ATACMS ballistic missiles were used in the attack.

The latter information was initially treated with caution because there was no official information about the transfer of these weapons to Ukraine. There were only rumors of such an intention, as we described earlier. However, during the day, photos appeared showing M74 submunition lying on the ground, which is the main component of the ATACMS warhead of the oldest Block I version and part of the warhead of the slightly newer Block IA version. The Block I version of the missile scatters up to 950 small (tennis ball-sized) charges in flight, which explode upon contact with the ground, scattering shrapnel within a radius of several meters. One rocket can thus effectively hit an area of ​​several hundred square meters, with several percents of the submunitions usually failing to explode due to malfunctions. Hence the photos of entire specimens on the ground. These types of cluster warheads are particularly effective against lightly armored or unarmored targets. Such as air bases, anti-aircraft defense positions, command posts or logistics centers.

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1714285259725128149

In the following hours, photos of the remains of the rockets appeared, leaving absolutely no doubt. They show the product designation and serial numbers. American ATACMS Block I (M39) ballistic missiles from the final production series of this oldest variant fell on the Russians. Years 1996 and 1997. That is, missiles that have been formally out of date for a long time and were not qualified for the modernization program in 2017. At that time, it was initially planned to renew all two thousand available ATACMS first versions. Ultimately, we settled on one thousand, which were significantly rebuilt to the M57E1 version. The rest were to be disposed of, but ultimately the decision was not made. The problem with them is that their solid fuel may have lost properties over time, making them potentially unreliable.

They also have a less accurate navigation system without satellite correction and a Cold War cluster warhead, which has become a controversial weapon in recent decades. Banned by some countries as inhumane due to leaving significant amounts of dangerous unexploded ordnance in the form of faulty submunitions.

The new versions of ATACMS already have so-called unitary warheads, i.e. simply one mass of explosive material and a metal casing that breaks into fragments. The problem is that old cluster warheads are the perfect weapon for attacks such as those carried out by the Ukrainians. Newer warheads would not allow this effect to be achieved using just a few rockets.

In the evening and at night, the Ukrainians themselves officially admitted that they had finally received the desired ATACMS and were using them. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a speech, and the military released recordings of missile launches. They show a total of five missiles leaving the launchers in salvos of 3 and 2.

It is unclear whether the Lugansk airport was actually attacked, as Fighterbomber initially reported. Recordings of fires and debris are signed as coming from Berdyansk. However, two separate salvos shown by the Ukrainians may suggest that there were actually two attacks. However, there are no specific reports about the effects in Luhansk.

A Telegram profile belonging to the Ukrainian Special Forces Operations Center announced that the attack was carried out with their participation as part of an operation called "Dragonfly". Special forces soldiers were to help verify the presence of valuable helicopters at the bases in Berdyansk and Luhansk, provide targeting data and observe the effects of the strike. According to the center, a total of nine helicopters were destroyed at both airports, and ammunition, fuel, specialized equipment for operating machines and a Pantsir anti-aircraft system launcher.

Additionally, several dozen crew members, technicians and other soldiers were killed or injured.