United to win: US to sell Ukraine HAWK air defense system modernization equipment

The US plans to sell Ukraine equipment valued at up to $138 million to assist in operating and modernizing their HAWK air defense systems. These systems are specifically designed to protect against potential attacks by drones and cruise missiles from the Russian Federation.

According to Reuters, a representative of the US State Department stated this on April 9.

In 2022, the US started providing HAWK interceptor missiles to Ukraine as a substitute for their Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems. Since then, Ukraine has received multiple air defense systems, including the American Patriot system.

On Tuesday, April 9, an official said the United States approved an emergency arms sale worth $138 million.

Ukraine recently received a $300 million grant for external military funding under the recently signed Military Spending Law.

This money is planned to cover the costs of American weapons, engineering work, and integration for communications, as well as the modernization of HAWK fire units.

In addition, the sale includes:

• components for re-certification of missiles of old models,
• tools,
• test and support equipment,
• spare parts etc.

For reference:

^{Photo: Wikipedia}

The Hawk air defense system is a semi-permanent, medium-range missile system used for anti-aircraft purposes. It is currently in use by approximately 24 countries.

The anti-aircraft missile complex can target and destroy objects up to 45-50 kilometers away and up to 20 kilometers high. It uses a semi-active homing head to guide the missile, which travels at a speed of Mach 2.4.

It should be noted that to protect the Ukrainian skies from attacks by Russian drones and cruise missiles, the United States considered the possibility of transferring old HAWK air defense equipment to Ukraine.

Also, Spain has repeatedly transferred Hawk anti-aircraft missile systems to Ukraine.

In addition, in Spain, the Ukrainian military was trained on Hawk anti-aircraft missile systems.