The United States is considering sending Hawk air defense systems to Ukraine to help defend against Russian drone and cruise missile attacks.
This was reported by two American officials to Reuters.
The agency could not say how many Hawk systems and missiles the United States might transfer. At the same time, it is noted that the U.S. will most likely send missiles for the Hawk system to Ukraine first, since it is unclear whether enough American launchers are in good condition. Hawk systems have been in storage for decades.
The U.S. officials informed that a new package of military aid will be considered at the end of the week, and its volume may be half of the last military aid, which reached $700 million.
The MIM-23 HAWK is an American medium-range anti-aircraft missile that was in service with the United States from 1960 to 1994. The missile has been improved several times, it has a fragmentation warhead weighing 54 kilograms and semi-active radar guidance. The missile has a flight range of 20 kilometers. The main advantage of the Hawk is the quantity — more than 40 000 such missiles were produced in total.
- On October 13, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced at the Allianceʼs ministerial meeting in Brussels that Spain is ready to hand over four Hawk anti-aircraft systems (MIM-23 HAWK) to Ukraine, which are designed to intercept missiles.