Ukraine, the United States sends old Soviet air defense systems. Wsj report
The Pentagon has over the years acquired Soviet equipment as part of a clandestine program, and now the United States is sending such weapons to Ukraine. The deepening of the Wall Street Journal
The United States is sending some of the Soviet-made air defense equipment it secretly acquired decades ago to support the Ukrainian military as it tries to repel Russian air and missile attacks, U.S. officials said.
The systems, which a US official said include the SA-8, are decades old and were obtained by the United States so that they could examine the technology used by the Russian military and which Moscow has exported around the world.
The weapons are familiar to the army of Ukraine, which inherited this type of equipment after the dissolution of the Soviet Union – reports the WSJ .
The Pentagon has declined to comment on the United States' decision to draw on its little-known arsenal of Soviet weapons, which comes as the Biden administration is planning a major effort to expand Ukraine's air defense capabilities.
The United States over the decades acquired a small number of Soviet missile defense systems so that they could be examined by United States intelligence experts and aid in the training of American forces.
The covert efforts received public attention in 1994 when a huge Soviet-made transport plane was observed at Huntsville airport in sight of a major highway. It was later revealed that the plane was carrying an S-300 air defense system that the United States had purchased in Belarus as part of a clandestine project involving a Pentagon contractor and costing $ 100 million, according to a former official involved. in the mission.
Some of the Soviet-style weapons have been stored at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, which its website refers to as "the Army's center for missile programs." At least some of what the United States sent came from that base, officials said, who added that the C-17s recently flew to a nearby airfield in Huntsville, Alabama.
The S-300 from Belarus was not among the systems that were sent to Ukraine, a US official said.
The government's annual spending bill recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden includes a text authorizing the administration to transfer aircraft, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment to the Ukrainian military and North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners which are already overseas or in existing stocks.
Aides to Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), who supported the law, said Soviet-era air defense systems would be covered by the new legislation. Congress was informed of the US decision, officials said.
Ukraine already has some Russian air defense systems, including the S-300. It needs more such systems, however, that can operate at medium and long range to counter Russia's air and missile attacks. The shoulder-fired Stinger missiles that the United States and NATO nations are supplying Ukraine are effective only against helicopters and low-flying aircraft.
The United States hopes that the provision of additional air defenses will allow Ukraine to create a de facto no-fly zone, as the United States and its NATO allies have rejected Ukraine's calls for the alliance to establish one. . Such a step, Biden administration officials said, could lead to a direct confrontation between the US-led alliance and Russian forces, which it is determined to avoid.
Biden is on his way to Brussels this week for a NATO summit to discuss "ongoing deterrence and defense efforts" for Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also visited the Eastern Bloc to discuss ways to strengthen Ukraine's defensive weapons.
"We are continuing to work with our allies and key partners to provide new assistance, including anti-aircraft systems of Soviet or Russian origin and the ammunition needed to deploy them, every day to Ukraine," a US official said.
Mr. Austin last week visited Slovakia to see if the country would send an S-300 from its arsenal. Slovakia said it would if the US provided it with a replacement, but that deal has yet to be agreed.
American-made weapons such as the Patriot air defense system are short on stock and require American military personnel or months of US training to function. German and Dutch Patriot units were sent to Slovakia as stopgaps, those governments said.
"We have discussed" with the United States, Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad 'told reporters during a joint press conference with Mr. Austin on Thursday. "Should there be a situation where we have adequate replacement or have guaranteed capacity for a certain period of time, then we would be willing to discuss the future of the S-300 system."
(Extract from the foreign press review by eprcomunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ucraina-gli-stati-uniti-inviano-vecchi-sistemi-di-difesa-aerea-sovietici/ on Sat, 26 Mar 2022 06:47:33 +0000.