Nasams, Aspide and Iris-T, all of Ukraine’s air defense systems. Economist Report
Kiev's need for more and better air defense systems comes as Russia stepped up aerial bombardments of Ukrainian critical infrastructure to offset the deadlock in the ground campaign, writes The Economist
Ukraine received its first Nasams air defense systems from the United States and Aspide units from Spain, while Russia continues to hit electrical infrastructures that have caused blackouts nationwide with missiles and drones. "The Nasams and Aspide air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine!" Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in a tweet on Monday. "These weapons will significantly strengthen the Ukrainian army and make our skies safer." And he added: “We will continue to take down enemy targets that attack us. Thanks to our partners: Norway, Spain and the United States ”.
The Nasams are a short to medium range surface-to-air missile defense system jointly developed by the Norwegian Kongsberg and the US Raytheon. The Aspide system produced by Italy was supplied to Kiev by Spain. The arrival of these systems comes weeks after Ukraine received Iris-T air defense missile systems from Germany, the first such sophisticated kit supplied to Kiev after the large-scale invasion of Russia, which took place more than eight months. does.
Ukraine has long required modern standard NATO air defense systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, while its troops oppose Russian forces occupying more than 15% of its territory in the eastern and southern coastal regions. The United States is working with its allies to locate as many systems and ammunition as possible. "Work is underway to understand how much it can be produced and how quickly, not only for US systems, but for other systems as well," a US defense official said.
Kiev's need for more and better air defense systems comes as Russia stepped up aerial bombardments of Ukrainian critical infrastructure to offset the deadlock in the ground campaign.
Moscow is using precision-guided missiles and swarms of Iranian-supplied Shahed 136 kamikaze drones that can carry a 40kg warhead. Although Ukraine has destroyed most of the incoming drones and missiles, enough have arrived in the last month to knock out more than a third of the country's electricity generation capacity. About 4.5 million Ukrainians are without electricity, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Sunday night speech.
Analysts have warned that without improved air defense, thousands of Ukrainians could freeze this winter. "With blackouts already affecting much of the country and the climate already cold, it's hard to overestimate the urgency of these requirements," military experts Justin Bronk, Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds said in a report released Monday by Royal United. Services Institute. According to experts, the West must provide Kiev with more Manpad shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles and radar-guided anti-aircraft guns, such as the German Gepard, to shoot down Iranian drones. Ukraine also needs Western fighter jets, such as Sweden's Saab Gripens, to solidify its territorial gains, the report added.
(Extract from the foreign press review by Epr Comunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/nasams-aspide-e-iris-t-tutti-i-sistemi-di-difesa-aerea-dellucraina-report-economist/ on Sun, 13 Nov 2022 06:41:04 +0000.