The Ukrainians are utilizing an American-made air-defense system that the US retired from service greater than 20 years in the past to efficiently shoot down Russian cruise missiles.
The MIM-23 Hawk is a medium-range, surface-to-air system that was first fielded within the Sixties and has lengthy thought-about out of date, with militaries favoring extra transportable methods. However the hand-me-down weapons have discovered new life in Ukraine, proving they’re nonetheless helpful instruments in any case these years.
A Ukrainian soldier who operates the Hawk system, which stands for “Homing All of the Method Killer,” mentioned that though it isn’t a brand new weapon, it’s “efficient in expert palms.” He has greater than two dozen kills to his identify, together with Russia’s Kh-59 cruise missiles and Iranian-made Shahed one-way assault drones.
The soldier, Oleksandr, was featured by the Ukrainian Air Pressure on Wednesday. In an interview, which was revealed to the AFU’s Telegram messaging app, he mentioned Shahed drones are probably the most annoying to interact as a result of they fly very sluggish, so its tiring to battle them over lengthy durations of time.
Ukrainian Air Pressure
“‘Working with missiles is way simpler, even when they’re geared toward you,” Oleksandr mentioned. “It was just a little uncomfortable when three Kh-59 missiles, continuously altering altitude, flew proper at us. However all of the targets had been captured and destroyed one after the other.”
“The principle secret shouldn’t be even within the weapon we work on, however within the synchronous and coordinated work of the unit,” he mentioned, in response to a translation of his remarks. “We completely perceive the dangers and penalties if we don’t hear or ignore one another.”
The Hawk system was deployed all world wide throughout its 4 a long time in service with the US navy, and it noticed fight within the Center East. By the Nineties, although, with the Chilly Warfare over, the aerial risk to American forces had modified, and the Hawk was retired and changed with lower-altitude methods just like the FIM-92 Stinger and Avenger. The MIM-104 Patriot was additionally out there to fulfill different US air-defense wants.
Ukrainian Air Pressure
Although the US now not use them, a number of international locations nonetheless function the Hawk and its a number of variants, together with Spain, which first despatched Ukraine a handful of launchers in October 2022. The Biden administration has since donated an unspecified quantity Hawk methods and munitions to Kyiv and has dedicated to procuring extra for the nation over the long run.
Ukrainian officers have routinely pressed the US and its NATO allies for extra air-defense capabilities to battle the Russian risk. Whereas the Hawk is an antiquated functionality, it nonetheless helps plug essential gaps within the sky.
The Hawk shouldn’t be the one Sixties-era — and seemingly outdated — weapon to seek out successes in Ukraine. German-made Gepard cannons have additionally confirmed to be very efficient at taking pictures down low-altitude Russian drones and cruise missiles.
