HAWK air defence equipment
Source : Indian Express
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What is discussed under HAWK air defence equipment?
- About HAWK
Why in News ?
The US is considering retrieving older HAWK air defence equipment from storage and sending it to Ukraine, which is under attack from Russian drone-fired and cruise missiles.
Key Facts
- The US sent shoulder-fired anti-aircraft Stingers to Ukraine, where they proved extremely effective in stopping Russian air assaults.
- Since Russia’s invasion began, the US has provided nearly $17 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
- The Stinger missile system is a more compact and short-range air defence system.
- The HAWK interceptor missiles would be an advancement over the Stinger missile system.
- HAWK, which stands for ‘Homing All the Way Killer,’ joined the US Army in 1959, during the Vietnam War.
- It was upgraded over the decades that followed, including a major one in 1971 that resulted in the so-called I-HAWK (or improved HAWK), which had an 85% kill probability.
- Raytheon built the PATRIOT missile defence system in the 1990s, which was based on the HAWK system.
- From the early years of the new century, US forces largely stopped using HAWK.
- The Biden administration would transfer the HAWK equipment using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA).
- PDA enables the rapid delivery of defence articles and services from Department of Defence stocks to foreign countries and international organisations in response to unanticipated emergencies.
- Military assistance under the PDA is not subject to Congressional approval and could begin arriving within days, if not hours, of approval.
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