US plans to provide HAWK air defense system for Ukraine

Europe, News, US October 26, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The U.S. Department of Defense is considering sending older HAWK air defense equipment to Ukraine from its inventory amid Russia’s renewed wave of drone and missile attacks.

According to a U.S.-based new agency, the Biden administration plans to use the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to transfer the older HAWK air defense system to Ukraine. Under the PDA, the U.S. administration would not have to seek congressional approval to send defense equipment to Ukraine. This would hasten the process of providing Ukraine with the much-needed aerial defense systems.

The Vietnam-era technology of the HAWK missile interceptor system would be upgraded to operate the Stinger missiles, a smaller short-range air defense system, that Ukraine already possesses in abundance.

So far, it is still unclear how many units will be provided and when the final delivery will take place, however, considering the urgency of the situation and the use of PDA, the U.S. plans to deploy the HAWK air defense system in Ukraine as soon as possible.

HAWK is the predecessor of the U.S. PATRIOT Air Defense System made by Raytheon Technologies. It is a medium-range surface-to-air missile system that is widely known for mobility and maneuverability due to its smaller size. HAWK is based on Vietnam-era defense technology, however, its design and capabilities have been upgraded from time to time.

In his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to provide advance air defense systems to Ukraine after devastating missile raids by Russia targeted urban infrastructures earlier this month. Many analysts had been expecting that the U.S. would announce to provide PATRIOT air defense systems, however, Ukraine would only receive its predecessor for now.

*^{MIM-23 Hawk SAM Air Defense Training unit. (Image Credit: JGSDF/Wikimedia)}*

Ukraine has been asking its western allies to provide advanced air defense systems immediately. Equipping Ukraine with air defense systems also remained the main topic of discussion during the NATO’s defense ministers meeting in Brussels earlier this month. Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov was also present in present in Brussels to attend the meeting. Upon being asked what he hopes to achieve from the meeting, Ukraine’s defense minister replied “air defense systems”.

Apart from the U.S., other NATO member countries are also providing air defense systems to Ukraine. Germany has sent one unit of the latest-generation Iris-T defense systems, however, it would not be until next year that Kyiv receives the other three units of Iris-T that Germany has promised.

Iris-T is an advanced medium-range high-altitude air defense system. Each unit is capable to protect a small city. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Spain intends to send four U.S.-made HAWK launchers to Ukraine.