US considers sending phased out Hawk missiles to Ukraine

The United States is considering sending old missiles that its own military stopped using to Ukraine as it continues to arm Kiev troops with deadly weapons.

Reuters cited two anonymous US officials as telling the news agency exclusively on Tuesday that Washington is considering sending the MIM-23 Hawk missile system from storage to Ukraine.

According to Reuters' sources, the US may send a few of the old missiles, which were made by the US giant arms manufacturer Raytheon Technologies, to Ukraine to see if the stockpile is still in good condition after being phased out years ago and stocked in stores.

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Reuters was unable to determine how many HAWK systems and missiles the United States has available in storage to transfer. The White House declined to comment.

The HAWK system is the predecessor to the PATRIOT missile defense system which remains off the table for Ukraine, US officials have told Reuters.

The US military began using the Hawk system in 1960 during the Vietnam War and it has been upgraded since then. It is a mobile mid-range anti-aircraft weapon with some anti-missile capability. The Army replaced it with the more advanced MIM-104 Patriot system in the 1990s. The Marine Corps, the last American operator, phased the missiles out in the early 2000s in favor of man-portable FIM-92 Stinger missiles.

Meanwhile, earlier this month US President Joe Biden once again pledged to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky after a major Russian airstrike on cities across the country targeting infrastructure that Washington would provide Ukraine with advanced air systems. 

Zelensky: Russian airstrikes destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in single week

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian airstrikes have destroyed 30 percent of his country’s energy infrastructure in the past week and have caused “massive blackouts” across Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that planned arms shipments to Ukraine would include four Spanish HAWK missile launchers. The European nation received the system in 1965 and upgraded the hardware to the Improved-HAWK variant over the next two decades.

In related news, the Kiev regime's war minister Oleksii Reznikov said earlier this month that NATO members had decided to extend their military support and would soon provide the Ukrainian forces in addition to missiles with aircraft and tanks, as well.

Meanwhile, the US and its allies continue to supply the Kiev forces with more deadly weapons despite Russia's repeated warnings against exacerbating the Ukraine conflict.

Pentagon to send NASAMS missiles to Ukraine

The United States plans to supply Ukraine with deadly NASAMS missiles within the coming weeks, the Pentagon announced.

Last week, the Pentagon announced plans to send the first batch of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) to Ukraine within the coming weeks.

The NASAMS ground-based short to medium-range missile system, also known as the Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, aims to build up the Kiev force's military strength as it increases the number of its attacks against Russian targets.

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