Spain will provide Ukraine with an additional battery of the Hawk air defense system.
This was announced by Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles during a video meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov, Babel reports.
She assured that Ukraine would have the battery by September. Robles also added that another complex of this air defense system “will strengthen the air defense capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
The ministers also discussed the process of training Ukrainian soldiers in Spain, which has already reached five thousand.
The MIM-23 Hawk is an American medium-range air defense missile system developed by Raytheon and adopted by the US Army in the 1960s. The system has three versions – Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. Initially, it was designed to destroy aircraft, and later it was modified to intercept missiles. Ukraine already has such systems – they were donated by its allies.
In addition, President Joe Biden announced plans to supply additional Hawk systems at the NATO summit on July 10. In general, he announced that in the coming months, the United States and partners would transfer “dozens of tactical air defense systems” to Ukraine, including NASAMS, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS, and Gepard systems.
