Forbes: Taiwan could secretly transfer HAWK anti-aircraft missile batteries to Ukraine

Author:
Anastasiia Mohylevets
Date:

Taiwan could secretly transfer surplus HAWK anti-aircraft missile batteries to the Air Force of Ukraine.

Former Pentagon official Tony Hu said about it.

His words confirm information from 2023 about an agreement between Taipei and Kyiv in the field of air defense, which was supposedly concluded with the mediation of the United States. Taiwanʼs MIM-23 HAWK missiles, as well as their launchers and radars, supplemented those already provided to Ukraine by the United States and Spain, Forbes writes.

In total, the Armed Forces of Ukraine can now deploy up to 15 Raytheon HAWK batteries. Each of them has at least six launchers with three missiles and associated radars, the publication states.

At the time of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force had about 50 batteries of air defense systems. These were mostly S-300 and other models of the USSR. Since then, many old weapons have been replaced by more modern Western systems, such as American Patriots.

Despite the fact that HAWKs are more than 60 years old, they are reliable and highly mobile launchers that work effectively against drones, cruise missiles and manned aircraft, Forbes writes. In addition, HAWK is compatible with a more modern air defense system that is in service with Ukraine — the American-Norwegian NASAMS.

"The more different air defense systems Ukraine operates, the more different missile stocks and production lines it can use to arm those systems with replacement missiles," says Forbes military columnist David Ax.

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