After being "scrubbed" by Russian large number of missiles in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and many other places, Ukraine began to ask for advanced air defense weapons from in , and the leaders of the United States and NATO have responded positively to this. US President Biden immediately stated to Ukraine that it would provide advanced air defense missiles after Russia's large-scale missile retaliation. Later, on October 26, a US official revealed that the United States is considering transporting the retired "Hawk" air defense missile to Ukraine to assist it in improving its ability to defend against Russian drones and cruise missile . So can the batch of old air defense missiles that the United States will provide that have been retired for decades help Ukraine defend against Russian missile strikes?
"Hawk" missile is a medium- and low-altitude air defense missile equipped by the US military in the 1960s. Although it has experienced two major upgrades since then, it can no longer cope with the new air threats that appeared around the 21st century. Therefore, US Army replaced it with the "Patriot" air defense system as early as 1994. The US Marine Corps also handed over the burden of "Hawk"'s air defense to the "Sthorn" portable air defense missile in 2002. Therefore, if the United States wants to provide Ukraine with the Hawk air defense missile, it means that the US military will pull out this batch of "Chen goods" that have been sealed for at least 20 years and refurbish it.
And even without considering whether the "Hawk" decades ago can deal with Russia's advanced missiles, the United States will also evaluate whether the Ukrainian army is capable of operating these weapons and equipment that even the US military itself has not used for 20 years. After all, the organization of a "Hawk" missile company includes more than ten professional vehicles such as missile launcher , missile reserve vehicles, radar vehicles, etc. If used as a key Ukrainian city or target, this huge old-fashioned equipment may also require additional air defense system to protect the "Hawk" radar and other auxiliary vehicles. But compared to this flaw, the missiles used in the Hawke air defense system are more dangerous!
Taiwan Hawk missile system display
"Hawk" missile engine mainly uses polyurethane solid fuel. This solid fuel has many advantages of high energy, easy combustion speed and good mechanical characteristics. It is the first choice for "Hawk" such as dual-based propellant missile. However, the fuel contains nitroglycerin , which leads to poor safety. During an exercise on Taiwan in 2017, a "Hawke" missile exploded in the air because solid fuel has not been updated for more than 40 years, and no solid fuel column was found to be broken during daily random inspections.
Generally speaking, missiles with solid fuel have a lifespan of only 10-20 years, and the "youngest" missiles that the United States will provide to Ukraine are probably more than 30 years old (it has been in service for several years to more than ten years before retirement in 2002). If the United States did not replace the brand new solid fuel column for this batch of "Hawk" missiles before delivering it to Ukraine, it is very likely that "self-destruction" will occur again!
Decades ago, the Hawk missiles were difficult to intercept low-altitude slow drones
The latest batch of US aid programs to Ukraine worth $700 million is likely to include this batch of Hawk missile systems. If the United States can ensure that the Hawk missile system in stock is in good condition, Ukraine should not have to worry about insufficient missiles. After all, the total production of Hawk that year was as high as more than 40,000!
