United States is buying decommissioned Hawk missiles from Taiwan for transfer to Ukraine, - mass media
The US will purchase decommissioned MIM-23 Hawk anti-aircraft systems with missiles from Taiwan, convert them and send them to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package.
China Times writes about this with reference to a source, the publication Taiwan News, and Military, Censor.NET reports.
The publication's source claims that it is about the Phase III MIM-23 Hawk, decommissioned in June. The purchase agreement was preceded by consultations between the US and Taiwanese governments.
As noted, the air defense systems will be transferred to the Ukrainian army to combat Russian drones and low-altitude aircraft.
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense declined Taiwan News' request for comment, but said the weapons were being disposed of in accordance with regulations. Taiwan will replace the decommissioned weapon with the Sky Bow III (TK-3) system.
Taiwan has at least 13 batteries and 39 radars of this system.
As a reminder, the MIM-23 Hawk air defense system is an American medium-range anti-aircraft missile system. The complex was adopted in 1960, since then it has undergone several modernizations. The Hawk system is the predecessor of the Patriot missile defense system manufactured by Raytheon Technologies.
According to the Taiwan Air Force, Hawk missiles were used in 41 combat exercises between 1965 and 2017, hitting their targets more than 90 percent of the time.
