this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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Spain to Immediately Deliver Additional HAWK Air Defense Systems to Ukraine (www.kyivpost.com)
submitted 4 months ago by LaFinlandia@sopuli.xyz to c/ukraine@sopuli.xyz
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[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The MIM-23 missiles that it uses are an old missile, have not been produced for a long time.

Solid rocket motors (which power these missiles in flight) have a limited shelf life. I couldn't find numbers specifically on the MIM-23 shelf life, but other solid rocket motors range from 10 to 50 years. With the age of the HAWK systems, its entirely possible that these missiles are close to or beyond their "Best use by" date where you wouldn't trust them as primary air defense. So using them against Shahed is a fine choice. You're essentially using throwaway munitions of your own against throwaway munitions of your adversary.

Possibly expired HAWK missiles against Shahed is a much better choice than Patriot against Shahed.

[–] tal 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Sure, I'm not saying that it's a bad option of the available options. I'm just saying that if it's out of production and Shaheds are not, that means that it can only be used as a counter for a bounded period of time.