The NATO Secretary General, during a press conference yesterday, announced new arms shipments to Ukraine, including 4 Spanish HAWK missile launchers.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, following meetings of NATO Defense Ministers, gave a press conference at which he announced a number of military assistance measures to enable Ukraine to conduct meaningful operations during the winter. Everything from fuel, winter clothing and tents to advanced weapons systems, air defense, armored vehicles and advanced artillery will be provided.
During the press conference, special emphasis was placed on the provision of additional air defense systems to help protect the Ukrainian population and critical infrastructure. It was revealed that Spain will make available four HAWK anti-aircraft missile launchers. It was also mentioned that France and the Netherlands will transfer anti-aircraft equipment to Ukraine, but the models were not detailed.
MIM-23 HAWK
Developed by the American firm Raytheon in the late 50’s and introduced in the US Army in 1960 as MIM-23 HAWK (for Homing All the Way Killer), it is a medium range air defense system, which was widely exported to allied and NATO member countries.
Despite its age, several modernization programs kept the HAWK competitive, although today most of them have been replaced by more modern and capable systems, such as the MIM-104 Patriot.
Spain received its first HAWK missile batteries in 1965, operated by the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment. During the 1970s and 1980s, these systems were upgraded to the Improved-HAWK configuration, which enhanced the missile’s ability to intercept low-flying targets, increased the lethality of its warhead, strengthened the resilience of its guidance system to electronic warfare and increased the missile’s overall performance.
As a result of the implementation of the modernization program, the I-HAWK can intercept aerial targets up to 40km of horizontal range and a maximun altitude of 18km, with a 85/90% kill probability.
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Despite the many upgrade and improvement programs, the HAWK is still a rather old system, which has already been withdrawn from active service in most of the user countries, replaced by Patriot, NASAMS or SAMP/T missile batteries, which are precisely the equipment that Kiev is asking for to defend itself against Russian air and cruise missile attacks.
