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Taking a significant step toward strengthening Ukraine's air defense capabilities, the United States is working with our country to develop and build missiles for Soviet-era air defense systems. Such cooperation, which also involves European companies, was announced by US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin at the 24th meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine in the Ramstein format on September 6, 2024.
Although Ukraine has successfully launched mass production of drones, various types of munitions and vehicles for the ground forces, there has been almost no production of air defense missiles, making Ukraine dependent on Western supplies of air defense munitions after its own stockpiles have been exhausted.
Although Secretary of State Austin did not provide specific details, experts believe that the focus is on developing an analogue of the Soviet-era anti-aircraft missile that could be used with existing Ukrainian systems such as the S-300. The development comes at a crucial time, as Ukraine faces an acute shortage of anti-aircraft missiles for its S-300 systems, despite still possessing a significant number of these launchers.
The shortage is due to the fact that the 5B55 missiles used in these systems are no longer produced and are not available on the world market. The Defense Ministry of Ukraine has already worked on the modernization and partial localization of the production of elements of the S-300 system, including mastering the repair of 5B55 missiles and developing a Ukrainian replacement for the original 48D6 engine.
As for the replacement of the R-27 air-to-air missile, Ukraine is developing its own projects for a medium-range air-to-air missile with a radar head. One of these projects is the UP-277 missile, presented for the first time in 2021.
This US-Ukrainian cooperation appears to prioritize the replacement of scarce Soviet-era missile models to ensure that Ukraine can continue to effectively use its existing defense systems. The initiative emphasizes the West's continued support for Ukraine's defense capabilities and the need for innovative solutions for the maintenance and modernization of Soviet-era equipment still in use by the Ukrainian military.
As the war with Russia continues, this development is a critical step in strengthening Ukraine's air defense capabilities and reducing its long-term dependence on increasingly scarce Soviet-era munitions.
