This outdated American weapon has made a big difference in Ukraine

The United States has provided billions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine, including several important weapons. However, there is one old and outdated system missile system that has been made a big difference.

Washington has provided an unlisted number of the MIM-23 Hawk to the Ukrainians according to a tally of U.S. Security Cooperation with Ukraine from the State Department, and these Cold- war-era air defense systems have proved to be useful in bolstering Ukraine's air defense network.

Photo Credit: Facebook @kpszsu

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service in the 1990s, the MIM-23 Hawk is an air defense system from the Cold War that is thought to be “somewhat outdated” according to Forbes. 

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

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, which is a spot-on description for what was once one of the world's 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. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Los688, Own Work, Public Domain

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 MIM-23 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 were set to arrive in December 2022. 

The United States opted to furnish Ukraine with two MIM-23 Hawk air defense systems in 2022, and Washington provided supporting radar and control systems along with compatible missiles for the systems. 

Spain has sent additional MIM-23 Hawk air defense systems to Ukraine since 2022, with the latest shipment of a full MIM-23 battery from Madrid being announced in September 2024 according to Militarnyi.

Photo Credit: Wiki  Commons By Pi3.124 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Spanish Denenfes Ministry also revealed that it planned to send six additional MIM-23 Hawk launchers to its Ukrainians allies along with a full Hawk battery at that time.

Photo Credit: Facebook @kpszsu

What made the Hawk a good choice for Ukraine at the beginning of the war was twofold. First, the system had proven itself over its lifetime to be extremely effective at shooting down a wide range of threats, including everything from 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 according to reports. 

In July 2023, the Ukrainian Air Force published an interview with one MIM-23 Hawk operator on its Telegram channel who claimed that he and his crew had achieved more than a dozen Russian drone kills and four missile kills with their air defense system according to Militarnyi.

Photo Credit: Facebook @kpszsu

Unfortunately, the Hawk system does have its drawbacks. The systems launchers and radars are trailer-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.  

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

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.