Pentagon confirms transfer of anti-radar missiles to Ukraine
Rocket AGM-88 HARM (Photo:planephotoman/flickr.com)
The Pentagon has delivered "a certain number" anti-radar missiles to Ukraine as part of the transfer of military aid, Pentagon Deputy Chief Colin Kahl said during a briefing on Aug 9.
Kahl didn’t specify how many anti-radar missiles had been sent to Ukraine.
In a commentary to CNN, a Pentagon spokesman said the type of missile sent was the AGM-88 High-Velocity Anti-Radar Missile (HARM).
The missiles were sent in recent aid packages to Ukraine, Kahl said. He noted that these missiles "can affect Russian radars and other objects."
The Ukrainian side hasn’t officially announced the receipt of the HARM missiles.
Earlier this month, several photos of parts of a missile appeared on the Web, which, Russian sources claimed, had come from a HARM missile fired at Russian positions in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The AGM-88 HARM is a high-speed anti-radar missile. Its range is up to 150 kilometers and it is capable of targeting high-frequency radars. Being programmable to target previously entered co-ordinates, it is less vulnerable to traditional types of countermeasures, such as turning the radar being turned off when a missile launch is detected – a HARM missile can calculate the location of the target and is able to hit it even if there is are no radar emissions from the target at the time of the strike.
Military experts say having HARM missiles will allow Ukraine to push Russian air defense systems further back from the front, in turn allowing Ukrainian air power to operate more freely closer to Russian lines.
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