US CONFIRMS SENDING HARM MISSILES AS UKRAINE WREAKS HAVOC ON RUSSIAN AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS
Alex Hollings | August 9, 2022
The United States has now officially confirmed sending anti-radiation — or radar-hunting — missiles to Ukraine, as Ukrainian news outlets report a surge in destroyed Russian air defense systems over the past weekend. While the American statement did not specify the exact weapon, recent images of shrapnel uploaded by Russian forces in Ukraine suggest it’s the AGM-88 HARM missile.
According to the Ukraine-based Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s Army General Staff (AGS) estimates that Russian forces lost at least 17 air defense systems between Friday and Monday across Ukraine, though they did not specify how each of these systems had been destroyed. Subsequent to these claims, Ukraine’s Joint Defense Command South also claimed to have destroyed four S-300 systems on Sunday and a Pantsyr-S1 system on Monday — again, without specifying whether HARM missiles were involved or not.
The revelation that anti-radiation missiles like the HARM have been provided to Ukraine was a surprise to many (including this writer), as the Soviet-era tactical aircraft employed by Ukraine lack the necessary equipment to leverage NATO weapon systems. However, as Tyler Rogoway at The Warzone had pointed out prior to the American confirmation, the AGM-88 HARM missile could be leveraged in a number of ways. It now seems as though some Ukrainian MiG-29s may potentially have been lightly modified to fire these Western weapons.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/us-confirms-sending-harm-missiles-as-ukraine-wreaks-havoc-on-russian-air-defense-systems/
