US President Joseph Biden’s administration will provide $150 million worth of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, including HAWK air defense interceptors and 155mm artillery ammunition, two US officials said.
The arms aid package is expected to be unveiled on Monday, the officials said, declining to be named because the package has not been made public.
The administration is responding to Ukraine’s desperate requests for air defense support, as Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy facilities with airstrikes in recent weeks.
The US began delivering HAWK interceptor missiles to Ukraine in 2022 as an upgrade to the Stinger shoulder-launched air defense missile systems, a smaller, shorter-range system.
The MIM-23 HAWK – an acronym for “Homing All the Way Killer” – was introduced in the ’50s and upgraded over the years to deal with jamming and other countermeasures. It was eventually exported to more than a dozen countries, according to the US Army’s Aviation and Missile Lifecycle Management Command.
In addition to the HAWK interceptor and 155mm artillery ammunition, the package will also include other ammunition and equipment to support Ukraine’s military needs, the sources added.
The package will come from presidential authorization, a mechanism that allows the president to quickly transfer military items and services from US stocks to support allies, Reuters reports.
