Meet the Cold War-era American missile system protecting Ukraine

The United States has provided several older weapons to Ukraine to help the embattled country fight off Vladimir Putin’s invading Russian forces. But few of those weapons are as interesting as the American MIM-23 Hawk. 

First developed by the United States in 1959 and slowly phased out of military service in the 1990s, the MIM-23 Hawk is an air defense system from the Cold War that is thought to be “somewhat outdated” according to Forbes. 

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Hawk isn’t just a title given to the old air defense system but rather it's the acronym for a very descriptive title: Homing All The Way Killer. It is a spot-on description for what once was one of the most powerful air defense systems. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By SSGT James R. Pearson - U.S. Defense Department, Public Domain

The MIM-23 Hawk is a medium-range mobile air defense weapon designed to engage a number of targets at once. The system boasts a 40-kilometer or 25-mile range and uses advanced radar to track and destroy its targets. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Dragoş Anghelache, CC BY-SA 3.0

Upgraded versions of the air defense system have an 85-percent chance of intercepting short-range targets according to Forbes, and the Hawk has been used to protect a wide variety of critical assets across several countries. 

Throughout its sixty years of service, the Hawk system has been upgraded three times and the Kyiv Post reported that it was likely the third upgraded version of the air defense system that was sent to Ukraine.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Blouw, CC0

Why Ukraine needed a weapon like the Hawk air defense system dates to the first year of the war. Russia was stepping up its aerial attacks on key Ukrainian infrastructure and Kyiv needed any air defense advantage it could get. 

“Hawk, though an older system overall, looks well suited to the kind of threat mix that Ukraine faces,” wrote The War Zone, adding it offered “valuable additional defensive capacity against large-volume Russian kamikaze drone and cruise missile strikes.”

Popular Mechanics reported that in the fall of 2022, Spain announced that it was planning to donate six MIM-23 Hawk systems and then followed up on their original donation with twelve more systems, which arrived in December 2022. 

The United States opted to furnish the two donated Hawk systems with supporting radar and control systems along with compatible missiles for the air defense weapons Missile refurbishment services were also provided by the U.S. 

What made the Hawk a good choice for Ukraine is twofold. First, the system has proven itself over its lifetime to be extremely effective at shooting down a wide range of threats, including aircraft and helicopters to cruise missiles and attack drones, Kyiv Post noted. 

Popular Mechanics reported that the Hawk system has a historical tally of roughly 100 manned aircraft kills, which is an impressive feat for a weapon that has been in service across multiple countries since the 1960s.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Luchtmacht, CC0

More importantly, the MIM-23 Hawk was designed to be used against the same type of Soviet-era missiles and aircraft that are currently being employed by Russia in its war against Ukraine. So far it’s proven to be effective. 

Unfortunately, the Hawk system does have its drawbacks. The systems launchers and radars are tailer-based which makes them less maneuverable than other medium-range air defense weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal according to Popular Mechanics. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By nicubunu, CC BY-SA 2.0

The Hawk’s maneuverability problems have also made the weapon more vulnerable to suppression from air attacks from radar-homing weapons, glide bombs, and Moscow’s fleet of Shahed and Lancet kamikaze drones.  

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There is also a cost imbalance when using the Hawk against some weapons. Missile for the air defense system costs roughly $250,000, which makes it a less-than-ideal weapon to shoot down cheaper Russian drones and rockets.