According to two US officials who spoke to Reuters, the US is thinking of deploying outdated HAWK air defence weapons from storage to Ukraine to aid that country’s defence against Russian drone and cruise missile attacks.
The Stinger missile systems, a smaller, shorter-range air defence system that the United States has previously delivered to thwart Russia’s invasion, would be upgraded by the HAWK interceptor missiles.
Using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), the Biden administration would transfer the HAWK equipment, which is based on technology from the Vietnam War era but has undergone numerous upgrades.
In response to an emergency, the PDA enables the United States to quickly transfer defence goods and services from inventories without legislative permission.
How many HAWK systems and missiles the US has available for transfer is unknown.
According to US sources, the PATRIOT missile defence system by Raytheon Technologies, which is still off the table for Ukraine, is the forerunner of the HAWK system.
After a catastrophic Russian missile onslaught earlier this month, US President Joe Biden promised Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskiy that Washington would give Ukraine powerful air systems.
According to Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of NATO, Spain plans to contribute four HAWK launchers.
Given that it was uncertain whether there were sufficient US launchers in acceptable condition, the US would probably initially deliver interceptor missiles for the HAWK system to Ukraine, a US official told Reuters.
For many years, US systems have been in storage. US officials have stated that a PDA is being discussed for later this week.
It would probably be roughly half as big as the most recent security assistance packages, which have been around $700 million, according to a US official.
HAWK interceptor missiles were not immediately known, but US officials have previously warned that the amount and make-up of military aid shipments can alter quickly.
The Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine on February 24 has been referred to as a “special military operation” by Moscow. Since then, the US has provided Kyiv with security support totaling about $17.6 billion.
