Ukraine, United States create hybrid air defense systems – NYT
The relevant statement was made by The New York Times, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
According to the publication, American officials call it the FrankenSAM program.
Two variants of these improvised air defenses – one pairing Soviet Buk launchers and American Sea Sparrow missiles, the other marrying Soviet-era radars and American Sidewinder missiles – have been tested over the past several months on military bases in the United States and are set to be delivered to Ukraine this fall.
American defense officials and engineers are also still testing what may be the most powerful FrankenSAM yet: a Patriot missile and launching station that operates with Ukraine’s older, domestically made radar systems.
A Pentagon official said on Wednesday that a test flight of the system this month, conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, successfully hit the drone it had targeted.
Can Kasapoglu, a defense analyst for the Hudson Institute in Washington, praised the idea of integrating the Soviet-era equipment with more sophisticated Western missiles as a way to help Ukraine “maintain its arsenal for the long war ahead.”
According to Kasapoglu, it also “provides an opportunity to put weapons that are collecting dust on NATO capitals’ shelves into practical use.”
Photo: Nicole Tung for The New York Times
