The US State Department approved a sale worth nearly 2.7 billion USD to Ukraine for the country to purchase air defense system upgrade packages.
In an announcement on September 18, the US State Department said the potential sale would allow the Ukrainian government to order air defense system upgrade packages and related equipment and services, with a total estimated value of about 2.68 billion USD.
“If the deal is approved, Ukraine will use contributions from European countries combined with the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) allocated under the previous administration to pay. This FMF will be counted as the US contribution to the Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, according to the 1:1 repayment mechanism,” the announcement read.
According to the US State Department, Ukraine has proposed to buy a number of weapons and air defense systems, including “S-300 Clone and GAM-67 missiles, laser-guided range-increasing air defense rocket systems, homemade ammunition carriers and launchers (ITEL) 1.5 and RPS-202 radar specializing in countering drones”.
The launch pad of the Patriot air defense complex at an undisclosed location in Ukraine in August 2024. Image: Reuters
Proposals also include spare parts, support equipment, software, technical documents, transportation services, repairs, maintenance and technical support, logistics from the US and contractors.
“This proposed sale will serve the foreign policy and national security goals of the United States by enhancing the security of a partner country that plays a role in promoting political and economic progress in Europe. The sale will also help Ukraine improve its ability to respond to current and future threats, while not changing the military balance in the region,” the US State Department said.
According to the military website Defense Express of Ukraine, “S-300 Clone” is a new missile designed for S-300 air defense complexes, not a copy of the Soviet-era 5V55 series that the country is operating. “This is a completely new design, has improved features and uses a more modern navigation system,” the Ukrainian website said.
GAM-67 is also a new design, developed for use with medium-range air defense systems, from weapons of Soviet origin to complexes still in development. The designation GAM-67 was used for a US anti-radar missile project in the 1950s, but was not deployed.
“Development of these missiles shows that the US is aiming for low-cost air defense assets that can be mass produced and easily integrated with many different systems,” Defense Express commented.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of modern air defense missiles, including ammunition for the Patriot system and F-16 fighters. Meanwhile, Russia increased its launch of ballistic missiles against Ukraine when the enemy had almost no ability to defend against these weapons, as well as deployed many jet unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to overcome air defense networks.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command has stopped counting the number of ballistic and hypersonic missiles deployed by Russia in raids since August 9, citing “negative media coverage”. Many Ukrainians warn that this decision could become a bad precedent, risking more and more important information being hidden for media purposes.